SOUTH BUSHWICK REFORMED CHURCH, Bushwick

by Kevin Walsh

The steeple is teetering and in need of a paint job but the South Bushwick Reformed Church, a “wedding cake white,” Ionic-columned church, built in 1853 and known as The White Church, remains a Bushwick touchstone decked out in clapboard and milk glass. The cross street is named for its first pastor John Himrod.

The Reformed Church of South Bushwick is an excellent example of the adaptation of a Georgian type masonry church, with tower, to a Greek Revival church of frame construction. Its dominant features are the classic portico and the soaring tower which rises from a square base through a handsome octagonal belfry to an octagonal spire. This type of steeple once characterized the skyline of London with its appearance on the numerous churches which the architect Sir Christopher Wren and his follower James Gibbs built to replace those lost in London’s Great Fire of 1666. This style of church continued as the model of many churches in England and America.

11/5/14

1 comment

steven November 7, 2014 - 7:57 am

I pass by everyday going to work. The church seems to be under construction now that Bushwick is a popular place to live. It looks as if they are giving the building a major paint job.

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