Location Taunton, Massachusetts MPS Taunton MRA Opened 1872 Phone +1 508-824-0656 | Built 1872 NRHP Reference # 84002232 Architectural style Stick style Added to NRHP 5 July 1984 | |
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Address 265 W Britannia St, Taunton, MA 02780, USA Similar Westville Congregational Church, Winthrop Street Baptist C, Watson Pond State Park, Lake Rico, Old Colony Historical Society | ||
Union Congregational Church is an historic Congregational church at 265 West Brittania Street in Taunton, Massachusetts. The church was built in 1872-73 on land donated by the owner of the Whittenton Mills, and is a nearly unaltered example of Stick/Eastlake style architecture. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Description and history
The Union Congregation Church is set at the northeast corner of West Brittania Street and Rockland Street, north of Taunton's downtown area and just west of the Reed and Barton Complex. It is a single-story wood frame structure, with a gable roof oriented parallel to West Britannia Street. Its main entrance, sheltered by a hood with bracketed trusses, is set in the base of its tower, which projects forward in the center-left of the south-facing main facade. Windows in the main body are tall and narrow, sometimes grouped in twos and threes, with small leaded panes. The tower's second stage has angled shingled sides with small square windows at their center, and a belfry above with Gothic-arched louvered openings. The steeple begins with helm cuts before rising in octagonal shape to its spire; it is also shingled.
The church was built for a congregation that first met at the Whittenton Mills (located to the north, further up the Mill River; it was built on land donated by the mill's owner, Charles Lovering. The church is a well-preserved example of the Stick style; its louvered tower has extensive woodwork detailing, and its main entrance has a gable top decorated with Stick woodwork.