Address: Intersection of North Main Street, Jones Hollow Road and East Hampton Road / SR 66
Contemporary Building Name: N/A
Historic Building Name: Methodist Church , Library, Town Hall
Present Use: N/A
Historic Use: Church, library, town hall, meeting space
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, Colonial Revival
Date constructed: 1841, 1916, 1935
Description: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Significance: The original Methodist Church building had granite stone blocks forming the foundation, with stone steps leading to the sanctuary. The Greek Revival-style meeting house had a pediment front, which recessed to its main entrance guarded with free-standing fluted Doric columns. There were four tall windows on the sides, and a chimney at the rear of the building. The roof was topped with a small square-plan tower containing a belfry with columns. After the 1914 fire, which burned down the original structure to the foundation, the building was rebuilt. Some of the foundation stones were “spoiled by the heat”. A wall was taken down in an old private cemetery (which had been relocated years before) as well as some headstones to repair the foundation. The new structure was simple, with a small front entrance, built into a “bell tower”, with a gable roof. There was one window on each side of the entrance, and five along the sides. In 1935, the bell tower was removed, and a two-story brick addition was added to the front of the building. Large arched windows flanked the entrance, as well as one arch window directly above the doorway. Sometime in the 1970s, a shallow gabled roof replaced the flat roof of the brick addition. The building was abandoned in 1987, and torn down in 1998.
Sources: Baber, David. Capitol Region Council of Governments Historic Resource Survey of Marlborough, 1978.
Giggey, Joseph. History of Marlborough’s Churches and Associated Buildings. Prepared for a Marlborough Historical Society presentation on February 27, 1995. 2nd draft, July 22, 1996
Ransom, David. Historical and Architectural Resources Survey, Town of Marlborough, Connecticut. April 1998.
Notes: This image is from a photograph in the collection of the Richmond Memorial Library, showing the 1935 addition to the front of the church, and the missing bell tower.