John Stevens (1824-1881) 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 ...

who practiced in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for ecclesiastical design, and designed churches and other buildings across

New England New England is a region comprising 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 to the west and by the Canadian province ...

Life and career

John Stevens was born in 1824.Reed, Roger G. "The Lost Victorian Campus". ''Academy Hill: The Andover Campus, 1778 to the Present''. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000. His early life is unknown, and he established himself as an architect in Boston in 1850.Morgan, Keith N. ''Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston''. 2009. After several years primarily designing schools and private residences, he began receiving commissions for churches by the end of the 1850s. He built these churches, generally in the Romanesque Revival style, in Massachusetts,

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

, and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

. From 1860 to 1862 he employed

Archimedes Russell Archimedes Russell (June 13,1840 – April 3, 1915) was an American architect most active in the Syracuse, New York area. Born in Andover, Massachusetts and trained under local architect Horatio Nelson White, Russell served as a professor o ...

, who would later become a prominent architect in Syracuse, New York. In 1869 he was briefly associated with S. F. Pratt, at which time he was working on buildings at

Oak Bluffs Oak Bluffs is a town located on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,341 at the 2020 United States Census. It is one of the island's principal points of arrival for summer tourist ...

. He remained in Massachusetts until 1879, when he established a partnership with his son,

J. Walter Stevens ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

, and moved west to

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

. John Stevens & Son operated until April 14, 1881, when Stevens died while on a visit to

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 census, making it the second- most populous city in New England after ...

Legacy

Stevens designed a great many churches. His Baptist church in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...

, completed in 1878, was said to have been his 113th. Many of his churches were built on only three basic models, which he relied on throughout his career. His contemporaries criticized him for this repetitiveness. In 1878, an anonymous writer going by "Verax" wrote in regard to his St. John church: "and as the 'outline and general features are after the Byzantine period' we may expect something similar to Mr. Stevens's previous works, which may be seen in almost every city from Calais to Lynn."''American Architect and Building News'' 28 Sept. 1878: 111. Boston. At least six of his works have been listed individually on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

, and several more contribute to listed historic districts.

Architectural works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, John 1824 births 1881 deaths Architects from Boston Architects from Saint Paul, Minnesota People from Worcester, Massachusetts