Guilford Center Meetinghouse

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Guilford Center Meetinghouse
File:Guilford Center Meeting House, Guilford, Vt..JPG
Guilford Center Meetinghouse is located in Vermont
Guilford Center Meetinghouse
Location Guilford Center Rd., Guilford, Vermont
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Area 0.6 acres (0.24 ha)
Built 1837
Architectural style Greek Revival, Gothic Revival
NRHP Reference # 82001708[1]
Added to NRHP May 13, 1982

The Guilford Center Meetinghouse (also formerly known as the Guilford Center Universalist Church) is a historic church building on Guilford Center Road in Guilford, Vermont. Built in 1837, it is a well-preserved example of transitional Greek Revival/Gothic Revival architecture. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1] It is now owned by a local group as a community meeting space.

Description and history

The Guilford Center Meetinghouse is located on the west side of Guilford Center Road, just south of Carpenter Hill Road and the Guilford Free Library in the central part of the rural community. It is a single-story wood frame structure, with a front-facing gable roof and clapboard siding. Its front facade has a slightly projecting gabled entry, flanked by sash windows topped by lancet-arched louvers. The entry section has paired entrances, each flanked by pilasters and topped by a corniced entablature, with sash windows above, and with a fully pedimented gable. A two-stage square tower rises above the entrance, with lancet-arched louvered openings high on the first stage, and on the second, belfry stage. The stages are demarcated by crenellated parapets. The interior of the church is relatively simple, with semi-boxed pews arranged in three groups, and the pulpit at the far end of the sanctuary. There is a loft area above the entrance vestibule.[2]

The church was built in 1837, using materials salvaged from an earlier meetinghouse. It was erected by a Universalist congregation at a cost of $2409, and represents one of the state's earliest examples of Gothic religious architecture. Attendance at the church was always somewhat intermittent, and the congregation's size generally followed a downward trend in the town's population. In 1977 the small congregation gave the building to the local historical society. It now maintains the building, and opens it to the community as a social and performance venue.[2]

See also

References

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  2. 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.