Ossining has a number of churches. These are two of them. The following descriptions are from the Ossining Significant Sites & Structures Guide.

On the left is the First Baptist Church:

Date of Construction: 1871- 1874

Architectural Style: High Victorian Gothic (1860s-1890s)

High Victorian Gothic architecture, which evolved from the older Gothic Revival style, differs from that style in its use of contrasting polychromatic bands on the exterior wall surfaces and more elaborate decorative elements. This style was usually reserved for public buildings such as schools or churches. As it is related to the Gothic Revival style, structures in this style also contain such elements as steeply pitched rooflines, elaborate ornamentation, and a predominantly vertical orientation.

The First Baptist Church consists of two sections: a rectangular main section and a smaller, perpendicular northern section. The main section’s 100 foot tall spire, which is surrounded by 16 pinnacles, was added in 1894. Older photographs show that the building originally had an
ornamental roof cresting that was subsequently removed at an unknown date. The structure is capped with a gray slate gable roof with four gabled dormers. Each contains a large pointed arch window and elaborate decorative exterior woodwork around the gables. The pointed arch-shaped double front doors at the main entryway facing Church Street are surrounded with polychrome brick trim and a decorative fanlight above the door. Eight stained glass windows located around the perimeter of the structure illustrate scenes from the Bible. The church is constructed with brick and limestone.

Significance: Architectural and Cultural

The First Baptist Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as architecturally significant for its status as the best example of High Victorian Gothic architecture in the Village. Other examples include the First Presbyterian Church. The nomination took place prior to the 1989 designation of the Downtown Ossining Historic District in which the Church is located and listed as a contributing structure. The Church is also culturally significant for its association with its founder, Captain Elijah Hunter (1749-1815), a Sing Sing-based landowner and businessman who later served as the first Supervisor for the Town of Mount Pleasant prior to the formal incorporation of Sing Sing Village in 1813; the Sing Sing Baptist Congregation, founded in 1786; and for its overall role in the cultural life of the Village since its construction in 1874.

Narrative:

The First Baptist Church, completed in 1874, is actually the second structure to occupy the site at 1 Church St; the first was constructed in the early 19th Century to house the Sing Sing Baptist Congregation. This congregation was founded in April of 1786 by Captain Elijah Hunter, a Revolutionary War spy who was the founder of the hamlet Hunter’s Landing, an early waterfront settlement located near the current-day train station which grew to later become part of Sing Sing Village. Hunter chose a triangular-shaped site at the center of the Village near the convergence of the Albany Post Road (known today as Highland Avenue or Route 9), Croton Avenue, and Main Street in order to maximize its visibility and emphasize its central importance to Ossining’s religious life. The original First Baptist Church was a place where blacks and whites would worship side by side in a setting that permitted a degree of equality that did not exist elsewhere, a tradition that continued with the construction of the current structure. The original church building was demolished once the size of the congregation grew too large and the present structure was built on the same site. The church was designed by J. Walsh, a Brooklyn-based architect, and was built for a cost of $75,000 in 1874 dollars.

On the right, the First Presbyterian Church.

Date of Construction: 1870

Architectural Style: High Victorian Gothic (1860s-1890s)

The First Presbyterian Church is two stories in height with rectangular massing. The front façade is dominated by two front towers on either side of the main entryway. Typical of the High Victorian Gothic style, the church makes use of the polychrome theme with the contrasting brick colors on window sills, lintels, surrounds, buttress caps, and surrounding the main entrance. The gothic pointed arch motif is used for window openings and entryways. The gabled main entrance, which faces South Highland Avenue, is surrounded with elaborate limestone work. The church originally was constructed with a tall steeple on the southeast tower that was subsequently removed in the 1950s when the building was renovated and modernized. The church is constructed with brick and limestone.

Significance: Architectural and Cultural

The First Presbyterian Church is National Register-listed as a contributing structure within the Downtown Ossining Historic District. It is architecturally significant as a well preserved example of High Victorian Gothic architecture within Ossining. Other structures of this style include the First Baptist Church. This structure is also culturally significant as the home of the First Presbyterian Congregation of Ossining.

Narrative:

The First Presbyterian Congregation was formed in 1763 and originally occupied a site located in what is now Sparta Cemetery on land donated by Frederick Phillipse, owner of the vast Phillipse Estate that stretched from modern-day Kingsbridge, Bronx to the Croton River. The original building was damaged during the Revolutionary War, prompting the congregation to build a new structure in the village of Sing Sing on the site of the current Trinity Episcopal Church at 7 South Highland Avenue in 1803. As the congregation grew, this church was expanded until it was no longer adequate to house all those who wished to worship there. The present church was constructed from 1868 to 1870 for a cost of approximately $95,000 by contractor Peter H. Terhune of Binghamton, NY and designed by architect Isaac Gale Perry. Perry was later
appointed as the State Architect for the State of New York and designed the final phase of the New York State Capitol in Albany from 1883 to 1899 as well as the New York State Armory in Poughkeepsie in 1891.

Taken with a Sony RX10 IV.

All Saints’ Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church in Briarcliff Manor, New York. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. John David Ogilby, whose summer estate and family home in Ireland were the namesakes of Briarcliff Manor, founded the church in 1854. The church was built on Ogilby’s summer estate in Briarcliff Manor.

Richard Upjohn designed the church building, which was constructed from 1848 to 1854 and expanded in 1911. The church has several memorial windows, including one by John LaFarge and a rose window by Frederick Wilson of Tiffany Studio.

It’s the second oldest church in the Village and the oldest functioning church since St. Mary’s closed in the 2015. For more pictures see: All Saints Day Service at All Saints Church, Briarcliff Manor.

Taken with a Sony RX100 III

The Briarcliff Manor Congregational Church was an outgrowth of a Sunday School that was held at the early White School. George A. Todd, Jr. was the schoolteacher, and later superintendent from about 1867 to 1906! Todd, sensing that locals needed a more permanent place to gather and worship than the small one-room schoolhouse, approached Walter W. Law with the idea for a brand-new church. Law, perhaps eager to bolster his real estate empire, jumped at the chance to help. Law gave the land and Todd donated the stones to build it. Others contributed lumber and labor to the project. The church was officially dedicated and incorporated in 1897 and “opened” as a Congregational Church. It’s the fourth oldest church in Briarcliff Manor (the other three: St. Mary’s Episcopal; All Saints Episcopal; and Scarborough Presbyterian) are all on the other side of the village near the Hudson River.

In 1898 Law gave the first Tiffany stained-glass window. There are 17 stained glass windows in all, representing several well-known studios and decorative arts companies: J&R Lamb, NY; William C. Willett, Philadelphia; John Hardman Studios, Birmingham and London; Woodhaven Studios, Bermuda. Perhaps the most well-known among these is Tiffany Studios. BCC has 7 magnificent Tiffany windows, installed between 1898 and 1906.

For more information on the church see: Mr. Law, We need a church.

Taken with a Sony RX100 III

It’s St. Philip’s Church in the Highlands in Garrison, NY.

According to the Church’s website St. Philip’s Church:

…began as a modest wooden chapel, a northern outpost of St. Peter’s Church in Peekskill. Built in 1771 for the residents of what is now Garrison, the chapel was called St. Philip’s partly to honor the Philipse family, the largest landowner in the area. St. Peter’s itself was founded only a few years earlier, in 1767; it received a royal charter from King George III in 1770.

Beverly Robinson, a vestryman of St. Peter’s, gave the land for St. Philip’s. Although a good friend of George Washington, he was a Loyalist and was heavily involved in Benedict Arnold’s treasonous plot to turn West Point over to the British in 1780. At the end of the Revolutionary War, Robinson fled to England, losing all his property.

In 1775, the Loyalist rector of St. Philip’s fled to Canada, so no services were held. There is a story that, during the Revolutionary War, Washington was riding past St. Philip’s when one of his officers said, “That is a Tory church,” to which Washington, a loyal Anglican, said, “It is my church.” (A stained-glass window portraying Washington is in the vestibule today.) The chapel was dismantled during the war and its materials were used to help construct the small fort at West Point. The chapel was reopened in 1786, and a larger wooden church was built in 1837. St. Philip’s officially became independent from St. Peter’s in 1840, reflecting the growth in Garrison’s population.

The Hudson River Railroad was finished in 1849, bringing new residents to the Garrison area: families named Fish, Osborn, Sloan, Livingston, and Toucey, who worshipped at St. Philip’s and are buried here.

In 1860, renowned British-born architect and vestryman Richard Upjohn designed a superb Gothic Revival church as a gift to his parish, St. Philip’s. A founder of the American Institute of Architects, Upjohn championed the Gothic Revival ecclesiastical style and is best known for Trinity Church in New York City. A noted Scottish stonemason, Smeaton Forson, came from Scotland to build the new St. Philip’s. Completed at a cost of $9,350 in 1862, it continues today, beautiful and steadfast, to inspire all who worship here.

Dedicated to St. Philip’s, Upjohn also designed a wooden Rectory, built in 1854. It was replaced in 1911 by the present stone building, the cost of which was donated by the family of railroad executive Samuel Sloan, a vestryman and warden. The stone Parish House was built in 1900, a substantial gift from the Toucey family. Generous contributions from William Henry Osborn and Stuyvesant Fish added the Sexton’s House in 1917, so that, by then, our buildings and grounds looked essentially as you see them today.

Taken in April 2012 with a Sony Nex 5n and Sony 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6