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The Dutch Reformed Church is one of the most prominent architectural landmarks in Newburgh, New York. It was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis in 1835 in the Greek Revival style common in America in that time period. It is his only surviving church in that style and is considered to be his latest building still standing that largely reflects his original vision.〔Aldrich, J. Winthrop; April 10, 2003; (Foreword ) to Historic Structure Report; retrieved November 8, 2006 from newburghdrc.org.〕 It is located at 132 Grand Street, just north of the Newburgh Free Library. Its historical importance comes from not just over a century of use as church, but its centrality in the struggle by modern preservationists to save and restore the city's many landmark buildings. Today it is a National Historic Landmark. It was almost razed in the late 1960s, and even today is far from completely restored. Property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.〔 ==Description and site== The church is 50 feet (15 m) wide and high, and 100 feet (30.5 m) long. The four front Ionic order columns are 37 feet (12 m) high (the capitals have been removed for safety considerations at the moment). It sits on a bluff 250 feet (76 m) above the Hudson River, a few blocks away.〔October 17, 1835; "A Description of the Dutch Reformed Church Now Erecting in the Village of Newburgh"; ''Newburgh Gazette''; as cited in Krattinger, William; April 10, 2003; (History of the Dutch Reformed Church ), retrieved from newburghdrc.org November 8, 2006.〕 In the 1830s there were no other buildings in the vicinity to impede the view, so Davis saw it as symbolizing the city to the considerable river traffic of the time. The southward orientation of the columns and facade, the direction in which most shipping approached the city, was meant to echo the similar marine outreach of the Parthenon or the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion in Greece.〔 The original design included a small dome atop the roof, which Davis explained thus: It was removed a few years after the building was completed for structural reasons. Other additions were built on to the property by the church as its growth warranted. While the church had the neighborhood of Grand Avenue and Third Street to itself at the time of its construction, today it has become rather crowded. It is now a contributing property of the Montgomery-Grand-Liberty Streets Historic District, which includes other notable historic buildings such as the former Orange County Courthouse, another Greek Revival building (designed by locally prominent architect Thornton Niven) across the street, the library, several other large old churches (some still in use). Several blocks to the south, along Liberty Street, is another site of major historical interest — the Hasbrouck House, today preserved as Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site owing to its use for that purpose during the last years of the Revolutionary War. To the north the area becomes more residential but still includes some of the city's older and larger homes, although some have been allowed to deteriorate in the last several decades. The current siting both enhances and complicate its aesthetic position. On the former hand, most of the buildings around it are of similar historic value. On the latter, the brutalist library that sits cater corner from it is not only a serious contrast in styles, it blocks most of the view the river and the church once had of each other. The church, library and dilapidated former Metropolitan Club of Newburgh form a small plaza; however part of it is taken up by a small parking lot built by the Newburgh Enlarged City School District, which runs the library and is headquartered in it, for its own central office employees. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dutch Reformed Church (Newburgh, New York)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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