New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources concrete 17. Cladding aluminum siding 18. Roof...

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INDIVIDUAL INVENTORY FORM NHDHR INVENTORY # LAC0658

Name, Location, Ownership

1. Historic name First Unitarian Church of Laconia

2. District or area

3. Street and number 172 Pleasant Street

4. City or town Laconia

5. County Belknap

6. Current owner Unitarian Universalist Society of Laconia

Function or Use

7. Current use(s) church

8. Historic use(s) church

Architectural Information

9. Style Colonial Revival

10. Architect/builder Walter Dunlap, builder

11. Source Historic Churches of Belknap County, D. Ruell

12. Construction date 1939-40

13. Source Historic Churches of Belknap County, D. Ruell

14. Alterations, with dates chancel replaced, 1944;

elevator added, 2002; aluminum siding,

ca. 1980s; 16 windows replaced, 2005; rear roof

replaced 2003-04; repairs to steeple, 2016-17

15. Moved? no yes date:

Exterior Features

16. Foundation concrete

17. Cladding aluminum siding

18. Roof material asphalt shingle; metal

19. Chimney material brick

20. Type of roof gable front

21. Chimney location ell wing

22. Number of stories 2

23. Entry location center, facade

24. Windows double hung; casement

Replacement? no yes date: 2005

Site Features

25. Setting city/town neighborhood

26. Outbuildings none

27. Landscape features none ______

28. Acreage .28

29. Tax map/parcel # 433/186/50

30 State Plane Feet (NAD83) 1035011/375207

______________________________________

31. USGS quadrangle and scale Laconia 7.5

Form prepared by

32. Name Carolyn Baldwin

33. Organization Unitarian Universalist Society of Laconia

34. Date of survey 2017

.

IT IS OKAY TO TURN PHOTOGRAPHS ON THEIR

SIDES SO THAT THEY FIT IN THIS SPACE

35. Photo #1 Direction: Southwest

36. Date May 2017 - Photographs by Frank Allen

37. Reference (file name or frame#):



39. LOCATION MAP: N↑

40. PROPERTY MAP:



41. Historical Background and Role in the Town or City’s Development:

The First Unitarian Church has ties with the early history of Laconia, beginning when the now city was known as

“Meredith Bridge,” a name it would keep until 1855. As early as 1767, Euro-Americans began settling the area, which,

by 1815, was a small village of 15 houses, stores, mechanic shops, and a cotton and woolen factory. By the mid-

nineteenth century, the industrial village, located between Lake Winnipesaukee and Lake Winnisquam on the

Winnipesaukee River, began attracting French and Irish immigrants. The town continued to flourish with industrial

expansion, particularly with the arrival of the railroad in 1848, attracting more immigrants to the area.

The First Unitarian Church, now known as the Unitarian Universalist Society of Laconia, began as an outgrowth of the

First Universalist church, which was officially organized in Laconia on July 19, 1838 by 23 charter members. Prior to

then, the Universalists had begun meeting as early as 1820-1822, holding services in the old Court House and

occasionally in Clough’s Hall. In 1825, church records indicate that the Congregationalists had voted to let them use the

village meetinghouse on certain Sundays. The meetinghouse at this time was the South Congregational Church, which

was built in 1810 and destroyed by fire in 1836.

The Universalists were able to build their own church in 1838 at the corner of Union Avenue and Baldwin Street (Fig. 1).

At this time, local history notes that several prominent residents of Laconia were members of the church. In 1867, after

being served by several Unitarian ministers and having a membership that was mostly Unitarian, the name of the church

was officially changed to the First Unitarian Church of Laconia.

Following its name change, the First Unitarian Church built a new church, under the ministry of Rev. Thomas B. Gorman,

on Main and Hanover streets (Fig. 2). Dedicated on November 11, 1868, the striking new building, with its corner bell

tower and tall spire, stood as a community landmark. It was noted at the time as being one of the largest church buildings

in the city and to have contained a substantial organ. The building served its congregation for 70 years until it was

destroyed by fire in 1938.

Following the fire, the church hired local builder Walter Dunlap to build a new church. Formerly a resident of Franklin,

Walter Dunlap moved to Laconia where he served as a member of the legislature and mayor in addition to working as a

builder. Known for his meticulous craftsmanship, Walter Dunlap built a number of homes and summer residences as well

as the Christian Church in Franklin. The First Unitarian Church and the Christian Church were considered his best known

accomplishments. According to church history, the congregation initially corresponded with T. Walker Smith & Walker,

Architects, of Boston; however, it is not known if the firm ever submitted plans or influenced the design of the church

built by Walter Dunlap.

The new church was designed in the Colonial Revival-style architecture, which was one of the most popular architectural

styles in the country during the first half of the twentieth century. The popularity of Colonial Revivalism actually

extended beyond architecture. It was a social movement that influenced art, design, and social reforms, which was

initially spurred by the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876 and by the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. In

architecture it combined architectural details inspired by the Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival periods and

incorporated certain design elements from these styles, such as façade symmetry, fanlights and sidelights, and pedimented

doorways and porticos. The Colonial Revival style was popular for both public buildings, including government offices,

post offices, libraries, banks, schools and churches, as well as for domestic architecture.

The corner stone for the church at 172 Pleasant Street was laid on November 19, 1939, and the dedication was on

September 22, 1940 (Figs. 3 and 4). The pulpit from the former church was removed from the ruins and incorporated into

the new building (Fig. 5). However, it was replaced in 1944 when the chancel was rebuilt and dedicated (Fig. 6). The

Gothic ornamentation of the older pulpit was found not to be in keeping with the Colonial Revival-style of the new

church. After the merger of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America in May of 1961,

the congregation changed its name to the Unitarian Universalist Society of Laconia and remains active to today.


INDIVIDUAL INVENTORY FORM NHDHR INVENTORY # LAC0658 42. Applicable NHDHR Historic Contexts (please list names from appendix C):

Architecture in New Hampshire, 1623-present

Religion in New Hampshire, 1623-present 43. Architectural Description and Comparative Evaluation:

The following description was written by David Ruell as part of a project of the Lakes Region Planning Commission on

historic churches of Belknap County published in 1996. Ruell’s description did not include details on the interior of the

building. The survey is dated 1988.

“The Unitarian Universalist Church of a Colonial Revival style wooden church that stands on the west side of Pleasant

Street in Laconia. The gable roofed main block has a shallow, gabled roofed entry pavilion in the center of its east gable

end, the street façade. One-story porticos shelter the main entry in the pavilion’s east front and a southern side entry on

the main block. Rising from the roofs of the pavilion and the main block is the two-stage tower with square base,

octagonal belfry and spire. The two-story, hip-roofed rear wing, containing classrooms, meeting room and kitchen covers

the entire west gable end and part of the south façade of the main block and overlaps it to the north and the south.

Another one-story portico shelters the rear wing’s main entry, in the east façade, south of the main block.

The main block and the rear wing are both now sheathed with aluminum clapboarding above the concrete foundations.

The main block is trimmed by tall wooden corner pilasters, ornamented by fluting and moulded spirals and set on

projections from the concrete foundation, as the front (east) corners and by narrow aluminum corner strips on the rear

(west) corners. A wooden box cornice with mauling, dentils, frieze, and returns trims the asphalt shingled gable roof.

The main block’s east gable end is windowless, as the entry pavilion and the tower base cover most of the façade. The

pavilion is set on a high concrete foundation, again with projections beneath the pilasters. Sheathed with flush boarding,

the pavilion has more fluted pilasters with moulded capitals, at the corners and dividing the street front, the east gable end,

into three bays, a wide central bay and two narrower side bays. The pavilion’s asphalt shingled gable roof is trimmed by a

pedimented cornice with mouldings, dentils, and frieze, that copies the main block cornice. The church’s main entry, in

the central eastern bay, is double six-panel doors, sheltered by the main portico. The portico has a high board floor, a

paneled base, board steps with wrought metal and metal pipe rails. Two fluted columns with moulded bases and capitals

and two corresponding pilasters of similar design support the asphalt shingled gable portico roof, with a pedimented

cornice of the same design as the main block and pavilion cornices. In the pavilion’s flush boarded pediment is mounted

a modern metal symbol of the Unitarian Universalist Society. Although the east front of the main block is only one and a

half stories high, the side (north and south) facades are two stories high. On both side facades, the easternmost bay is

different from the outer bays. On the five bay north façade, the eastern bay has a double casement window with twelve

pane sash in both stories. On the four bay south façade, the eastern bay contained a paneled door with nine pane window

and moulded frame in the first story, and a double casement window with twelve pane sash and moulded frame in the

second story. This side entry is sheltered by a portico of the same design as the main portico, save that its lower, with an

open base, and without any pilasters on the wall. The other four bays of the north façade and the remaining three bays of

the south façade all have 12/12 sash windows in the lower level and large 16/16 sash windows in the upper level. All the

windows of the side facades have moulded wooden frames as does the louver in the rear (west) gable.

Rising from the roofs of the pavilion and main block is the square base of the tower. The tall base is sheathed with flush

boarding and trimmed by corner boards with moulded caps and by the same dentiled cornice with frieze that appears in

the main block and pavilion. The small octagonal belfry stage is surrounded by a square railing, featuring square

cornerposts topped by carved urns, square balusters, and plain rails. The belfry is sheathed with flush boarding and

trimmed by cornerboards with moulded caps and another dentiled cornice, of the same design, but more delicate in scale,

as the main block and pavilion cornices. In each face of the octagonal belfry is found a semicircular arched louver. The

octagonal spire has flared eaves, is sheathed with asphalt shingles, and is crowned by an arrow shaped metal weathervane.

The rear wing is covered by aluminum siding and trimmed by moulded window and door frames, narrow aluminum

corner strips, and a moulded wooden cornice. Asphalt shingles sheath the hip roof. The east (street) façade is windowless

north of the main block; but south of the main block, it has a tall, narrow twelve-pane casement window in the upper level



and a paneled door with built in nine-pane window in the lower level. The door is sheltered by a one-story, gabled roofed

portico, just like that on the south side entry windows, two double windows with double casement windows with twelve-

pane sash in both stories of the south end, two double casement windows with eight pane sash in the first story of the

north end, and an eight-pane casement window and another double casement window with twelve pane sash in the north

end’s second story. Two paneled doors with nine-pane built in windows, bother sheltered by shallow hoods with sawn

brackets, board ceilings, and asphalt shingled shed roofs, appear in the rear (west) façade. The rear façade also has more

double casement windows, all with twelve-pane sash, two windows in the first story, three windows and two double

windows in the second story. A tall exterior brick chimney with concrete cap and a wooden hood, having braces with

decoratively sawn ends, a board ceiling and steep asphalt shingled shed roof, now sheltering a louvered vent, in the lower

level, complete the rear façade.”

Few changes have been made to the church since it was documented in 1988. In the early 2000s, sixteen of the windows

were replaced as well as the rear roof. Most recently, the steeple was repaired in 2016 and 2017 but still maintains its

historic appearance. 44. National or State Register Criteria Statement of Significance:

The Unitarian Universalist Church is significant as one of the earliest, and perhaps one of the finest, examples of a

Colonial Revival church in Belknap County, as noted in the 1988 survey of Belknap County churches. The church is

recognized for its sophisticated design, including its composition of a gabled roof main block with a shallow projecting

pavilion, small portico, and a square tower with an octagonal belfry and spire. The well executed and typical mid-

twentieth century Colonial Revival ornamentation shows an understanding of early American architecture yet can be

distinguished from an actual Colonial-era church. 45. Period of Significance:

1940, 1944 46. Statement of Integrity:

Overall, the Unitarian Universalist Church retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance as example an

ecclesiastical building designed in the Colonial Revival-style of architecture. The most significant alteration to the

building was the addition of the aluminum siding in ca. 1980s; however, it was applied in such a manner to not obscure

the architectural ornamentation. Located in its historic setting in the heart of Laconia, the church, with its central square

tower and octagonal belfry and spire, still stands as an excellent example of a mid-twentieth century Colonial Revival

church in Belknap County. 47. Boundary Discussion:

The tax parcel, containing 0.28 acres, is the recommended State Register boundary. 48. Bibliography and/or References:

Huse, Warren D.

1988 “Unitarian Universalist Society to Celebrate 150th Anniversary,” Laconia Evening Citizen, Saturday, June 4.

Lakes Region Planning Commission

1988 Historic Churches of Belknap County. On file at the New Hampshire Department of Historical Resources,

Concord, NH. Survey completed in 1988 by David Ruell; published in 1996 by Lakes Region Planning

Commission.

Vaughan, Charles W.

1899 The Illustrated Laconian- History and Industries of Laconia, N.H. Published by Louis B. Martin, 1899. Accessed

online at: https://archive.org/details/illustratedlacon00vaugh, Jan. 25, 2018.

https://archive.org/details/illustratedlacon00vaugh



Fig. 1: Image of Meredith Bridge (Laconia) from 1865. Steeple of the first Unitarian Universalist church is visible in the background.

Source: Files of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Laconia.

Fig. 2: Image of the First Unitarian Church built in 1868 and located on Main and Hanover streets.




Fig. 3: Early image of the current church on Pleasant Street.


Fig. 4: Early image of the current church on Pleasant Street.




Fig. 5: Early image of current church with original Chancel.


Fig. 6: Image of 1944 Chancel from the Laconia Evening Citizen.




Fig. 7: Sketch of current church building.




Date photos taken: May 2017 by Frank Allen

Photo # __2___ Description: South elevation. Direction: North Photo # __3___ Description: West (rear) elevation. Direction: East



Photo # _4____ Description: North elevation. Direction: Southeast Photo # ___5__ Description: Northeast corner. Direction: Southwest


INDIVIDUAL INVENTORY FORM NHDHR INVENTORY # LAC0658 Photo # __6___ Description: Steeple repairs, 2016-2017. Direction: West

Photo # __7___ Description: Interior view of Chancel. Direction: West


INDIVIDUAL INVENTORY FORM NHDHR INVENTORY # LAC0658 Photo # __8___ Description: Interior view towards balcony. Direction: East



PHOTO KEY

FOR STATE REGISTER LISTING ONLY! If this inventory form is being submitted for consideration of New Hampshire State Register listing, have you included: ____ a photo CD with digital images included in the nomination (does not apply if film photography was used) ____ the State Register Contact Information sheet

I, the undersigned, confirm that the photos in this inventory form have not been digitally manipulated and that they conform to the standards set forth in the NHDHR Photo Policy. These photos were printed at the following commercial printer OR were printed using the following printer, ink, and paper: _____________________________________________. (Color photos must be professionally printed.) The negatives or digital files are housed at/with: ___________________________________. SIGNED:

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