Saint Andrew's Church - Mt. Holly Historic District - Mt. Holly
N 39° 59.756 W 074° 47.299
18S E 518070 N 4427327
This church was established in 1742, and received its Royal Charter from King George III in 1765 while Benjamin Franklin's son, William, was Governor of New Jersey. The present structure was erected on High Street in 1844.
Waymark Code: WMER84
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 06/30/2012
Views: 3
The history of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church goes back to colonial times. It was founded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1742 as a mission church of St. Mary's, Burlington. Over the next hundred years, the church changed locations twice before choosing its present location in 1844. Since then, they have expanded their facilities several times to accomodate their growing family.
One of the most attractive features of this church is the stained glass. In 1936, St. Andrew's commissioned Willet Studios to fabricate 23 stained glass windows. These windows were leaded and many of them contained several pieces of Norman slab glass, which is a handmade, specialty glass that is no longer manufactured. What's unique about Norman slab glass is that each piece varies in thickness. The edge of a piece of Norman slab glass might be 1/8" thick and the center 1/2" thick. The thick areas create deep, intense colors while the thinner areas create lighter, softer colors. Realizing the rarity of these glasses and the fact that many of the Willet windows contain some of them, Willet Studios purchased the complete run from the last manufacturer and has over 6,000 pieces of this rare glass in stock. SOURCE
When I visited the bell (or a synthetic version thereof) played loudly and for a long time throughout the town. If you click HERE, you can watch a video and hear the bell for yourself. The bell is housed in a very tall tower perhaps made of stone (I was not sure), with a parapet at the top and its four corners crowned with tapered shafts reaching toward the sky like boney fingers. Closed and louvered Gothic windows can be fund at the top, all around. Half way up are neat little, circular windows, in a fleur de lis design (sort of). Huge, well-lighted Gothic-style windows can be found on the bottom floor of the tower. This thing is big enough to have step sin it, which I am sure it has the so the electronic bell up top can be maintained and looked after. The tower is directly over the front entrance and is about three stories high.
I particular liked the wooden front door, probably oak. It is red and a Gothic-styled arch over top. There is an intricate bone-web design throughout. I could see no handles or knobs so I guess some type of magical nod and password is involved in its opening. WIth the exception of this red door, which stands in stark contrast, everything else is bright white and mostly Gothic in design.
Naturally, a building this old and unique is also a contributing structure to the Mount Holly Historic District. In my never ending quest to document all things contributing, I visited the town library to retrieve the nomination form and narratives for the historic district. The reference desk rewarded me with a very old packet from 1969. Despite what on-line sources would have you believe, there are actually 39 contributing structures and not 36.
From the Nomination Form:
27. SAINT ANDREW'S CHURCH ....1844 ....121 High Street
Built by James ALexander Powell (chartered by King George III in 1765). Gothic architecture with tower; foundation of stone and brick; walls of stuccoed brick and buttressed; lancet windows; gabled roof; outside side chimney; double wood Gothic doors with butt hinges