Grace Episcopal Church - St. Francisville, LA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Very nice church and grounds. The church was opened on my visit, as well as access to the cemetery and grounds. The church cemetery has very interesting history, as during the American Civil War, there was a Union Naval Officer, who was a Mason, died aboard his ship. A delegation was sent to St. Francisville to find a burial place for a Mason. They found the Lodge in St. Francisville, and the Grand Master approved the request for a Masonic Burial. The officer, Lt. Commander John E. Hart was buried in the Grace Cemetery. The war was stopped for the day, so the burial could take place.
The pipe organ was installed in 1860 and is only one of two still in existence in the United States.
here.

The building itself has a 5-bay, open hall plan (free of columns), with a central entrance vestibule and a small transept. A square tower occurs at the west end of the transept. At the east end is a small wing which contains ranks of organ pipes. Beyond the transept is the chancel, which has a small sacristy off to the side. The church is constructed of red brick laid up in common bond, with buttresses which are doubled to support in two directions at most of the corners. The buttresses at the corners of the entrance vestibule are exceptions to this, being diagonally set. All windows and doors are set within lancets. There are no vaults in the building. The roofs are supported by wood trusses. The exterior of the church is characterized by a handsome and pronounced rhythm, made up of buttresses which protrude sharply above the cornice line, and heavy hood molded lancet openings. This is true of the entire church except for the entrance facade, where a much greater proportional area of brick wall gives a comparatively blank appearance. The two buttresses on the entrance vestibule do not protrude above the cornice line the way the rest of the buttresses on the building do. This makes the entrance facade seem less visually active than the rest of the building. This lack of unity between the facade and the rest of the exterior suggests the work of a builder rather than a trained architect. Moreover, there is not a great deal of unity between the exterior and the interior. The exterior resembles an English Gothic parish church with elements such as battlements, pinnacled buttresses, lancet windows connected by string courses, a rose window and a side tower. Although the interior has 3-part pointed arches leading to the chancel, the ceiling of the nave is treated in a non-gothic way, with four large panels and Rococo Revival medallions. A noteworthy feature is the church's fine stained glass windows. The church is encompassed on three sides by graveyards which are enclosed by cast iron fences. The only intrusion on the property is a small parking lot on the site of the old parsonage.

Street address: 510 Ferdinand St 11621 Ferdinand St St. Francisville , LA USA 70775 County / Borough / Parish: West Feliciana Year listed: 1979 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1850-1874 Historic function: Religion. Sub - Religious Structure Current function: Religion. Sub - Religious Structure Privately owned?: yes Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2009 To: 12/31/2009 Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/21/2022 KidWrangler visited it