Elias Carter (1781-1864) was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

whose first church design, at Brimfield, Massachusetts, was completed in 1805. He was born in 1781 to Timothy and Sarah (Walker) Carter in Ward, a village of

Auburn, Massachusetts Auburn is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,889 at the 2020 census. History The Auburn area was first settled in 1714. On April 10, 1778, parts of Worcester, Sutton, Leicester and Oxford, Massac ...

. His father, a builder, died when he was three, and the family moved to Hardwick when his mother remarried, to a farmer there. He followed in his father's profession, working in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

for a time before returning to central Massachusetts. He was responsible for the construction of a number of churches in central Massachusetts, which an early biographer described as "typical white steepled churches of

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

". His most influential design appears to have been the church in

Templeton, Massachusetts Templeton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,149 at the 2020 census. The town comprises four main villages: Templeton Center, East Templeton, Baldwinville, and Otter River. Geography According to ...

, which inspired the design of at least two others. He also built houses throughout central Massachusetts, as well as a wing of the

Westborough State Hospital Westborough State Hospital, originally "Westborough Insane Hospital", was a historic hospital in Westborough, Massachusetts, which sat on more than . The core campus area was located between Lyman Street and Chauncy Lake, north of Massachusetts ...

, and played a role in the construction of the

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

state insane asylum. Many of his works are listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Works (attribution) include: * Gov. Levi Lincoln House (1834), 4 Avalon Pl., Worcester, MA, NRHP-listed * Salisbury House (1836–38), 61 Harvard St., Worcester, MA, NRHP-listed. Designed by Carter or by Isaiah Rogers (sources disagree) * Dowley-Taylor House (1842), 770 Main St., Worcester, MA, NRHP-listed * Small House (1846), 156 Rogers Ave., Macon, GA, NRHP-listed * Horatio Tower House (1848), 71 Pleasant St., Worcester, MA, NRHP-listed * Acworth Congregational Church, north end of town common, Acworth, NH, NRHP-listed *Church of Christ Congregational, 235 State Street, Granby, MA * Domingos House, 1261 Jefferson Ter.,

Macon, GA Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

, NRHP-listed * Leroy Napier House, 2215 Napier Ave., Macon, GA, NRHP-listed * Third Fitzwilliam Meetinghouse, Village Green, Fitzwilliam, NH, NRHP-listed *

, along Lyman St. north of Chauncy Lake and jct. of South St. and MA 9, Westborough, MA (Carter, Elias), NRHP-listed *One or more works in Barre Common District, bounded roughly by South, Exchange, Main, Pleasant, Broad, School and Grove Sts., Barre, MA, NRHP-listed *One or more works in Brimfield Center Historic District, Main St., Brookfield, Wales, Sturbridge and Warren Rds., Brimfield, MA, NRHP-listed *One or more works in Macon Historic District (Macon, Georgia), NRHP-listed including maps pages 43-47, with (see photo captions pages 36-42 of text document) *One or more works in Mendon Center Historic District, roughly bounded by Main, Hastings, Maple, North, Washington & George Sts., Mendon, MA, NRHP-listed *One or more works in Rabbit Hill Historic District, roughly bounded by Highland, Main, Franklin, and Milford Sts., Medway, MA, NRHP-listed *One or more works in Templeton Common Historic District, Athol, Gardner, Hubbardston, Dudley, Wellington, and South Rds., Templeton, MA, NRHP-listed

References

19th-century American architects Architects from Massachusetts Architects from Worcester, Massachusetts 1781 births 1864 deaths People from Auburn, Massachusetts {{US-architect-18C-stub