South Congregational Church (Springfield, Massachusetts)

The South Congregational Church is a historic church at 45 Maple Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. The 1875 High Victorian Gothic building was designed by William Appleton Potter for a congregation that was established in 1842, and is still active today. The building is also noted for some prominent donors who funded its construction, notably Daniel B. Wesson (of Smith & Wesson fame), Charles and George Merriam (of Merriam-Webster fame), and Daniel Harris, who owned and capitalized on the Howe truss patent for bridge design. The church is one of Potter's early works, predating the extensive work he did for the United States government. The church was described in contemporary writing as "a rather bold departure" from normal church design of the period. The church is 136 feet (41 m) long and 77 feet (23 m) wide, and is made of limestone (quarried in Longmeadow) resting on a granite foundation (quarried in Monson). The rounded apse faces Maple street, and is topped by a conical roof with red banding in the slate roof. The apse has nine windows with Gothic arches shaped of alternating light and dark stone. To its right is a tower, which rises 120 feet (37 m) above the main entrance to the building. The tower is richly decorated with arched windows and yellow Ohio sandstone banding. There is a second entrance at the northwest end (the far end of the nave) that was orig

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