His name is Sidney Mason Stone. He is a descendant of Connecticut Colony founders and Mayflower pilgrims who will be forced to make his way into New Haven’s 21st century view of its history in the shadow of the illustrious Henry Austin and will thus be relegated to the role of the city’s other 19th century architect. But it was not always so…
Looking back, Stone and Austin seem to have had a shared destiny. Born one year apart (Stone in 1803, Austin in 1804) they came to the Elm City offering themselves as carpenters and joiners while they mastered the skills of the builders’ trade. Although documentation of the relationships is sparse, both Austin and Stone were associated with the legendary Ithiel Town, architect of New Haven’s Trinity and Center Churches, and his influence is apparent in their early work.
Throughout their long careers—Stone’s reaching into the 1870s, Austin’s until 1891—they not only vied for the same commissions but served together on boards and committees. In 1870, the Connecticut House of Representatives requested that, together, the two men draw up a cost estimate for the proposed extension of the State Prison and Insane Asylum.
Early on, Stone distinguished himself from Austin and the other New Haven apprentice builders of the time by enrolling as a student at the newly opened New York University in 1832. There it is likely that he studied under the nationally renowned civil engineer David Bates Douglass. By 1833, Stone had begun to advertise his architectural services in the New Haven newspapers, four years before Austin’s ads would appear there. His earliest recorded commission as architect came that same year when he was chosen to design a residence for New Haven Mayor John B. Robertson.
This was quickly followed by St. John’s Episcopal Church in North Haven and a palatial summer home built on City Point for the outspoken Journal of Commerce editor Gerald Hallock. Fashioned after England’s Kenilworth Castle, the sprawling Hallock residence immediately generated interest in its young designer. Soon residential structures incorporating features of Greek Revival, Romanesque, Gothic and Italianate styles that had originated on Stone’s drawing board were being erected throughout greater New Haven including those built for Solomon Collis, Roger Sherman Baldwin and Rev. Harry G. Croswell. Among those still extant around the city are Yale Department of Anthropology (originally the John North House) Center Church Parish House (Ezekiel Trowbridge residence), Yale’s Horchow Hall (Pelatiah Perit House) and Stone’s own residence in a neighborhood once known as Stoneville.
As Stone’s local reputation continued to grow, Yale University not only chose him to design their first gymnasium and Medical School buildings, but they referred potential architecture students to him for mentoring before their own department was established. He served as architect for public and commercial buildings in New Haven, Hartford and Meriden and provided plans for the Guilford High School, which later became Guilford Institute. (The building has recently been converted into luxury condominiums as The Lofts at Griffings Square.)
His 1857 design for the New Haven City Jail included a castle-like edifice with an Italianate tower rising from the center which Stone envisioned as a respite from the stresses of their surroundings for the jailor and his family. The building also incorporated an innovative ventilation system for which Stone was awarded a patent. In 1978, the structure drew support from the newly established Connecticut Preservation Trust and the late Vincent Scully, then John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art at Yale, in unsuccessful efforts to avoid its demolition.
But it was Sidney Mason Stone’s church designs that ultimately earned him national attention. His work on churches in New Haven included the Westville Society Meeting House, South Congregational, St. Patrick’s, Wooster Place Congregational, Third Congregational, and College Street Church, which eventually became the ill-fated Rialto Theatre. In 1849, he was hired to remodel the interior of United Congregational Church (North Church) on the Green, bringing him back to the work of his earliest influence, David Hoadley. The current pulpit apse was among Stone’s contributions to the re-design. His churches also appear in Branford, West Haven, Enfield, Essex and Naugatuck, as well as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan. At the time of his death in 1882, he had designed over 100 churches nationwide.
So, in the end, how does Sidney Mason Stone measure up against the revered Henry Austin? You can consider the opinion of Christopher Wigren, Deputy Director of the Connecticut Preservation Trust and author of Connecticut Architecture: Stories of 100 Places: “He might be as interesting as Austin. He doesn’t have the same sort of wild and crazy angle, but I admire his buildings very much.” Or you can take a look at Stone’s buildings then decide for yourself.
Center Church Parish House, 311 Temple Street; Horchow Hall, 55 Hillhouse Avenue, Yale University Department of Anthropology; Robertson House at the corner Greene Street and Wooster Place, 165 Whitney Avenue; Stone Residence, 169 Olive Street; Church of St. Michael, 29 Wooster Place; United Church of Westville, 34 Harrison Street and Church of the Sacred Heart, 198 Columbus Avenue.
(An edited version of this article appeared in The Daily Nutmeg)
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