Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The clapboarded belfry is slightly recessed and has two stages. The first stage is separated from the second stage by molded wooden trim. The second stage has tall, rectangular, louvered openings on each side. This stage is separated from the belfry's bellcast metal roof by molded wooden trim, and the entire belfry is topped by a cross. A small brick chimney is located on the west side of the roof, in the middle and toward the eave.

The floor plan of St. George's Catholic Church is rectangular, with a smaller, 15' x 40' rectangular addition on the rear side. The entrance hall is a small, carpeted room with plaster walls and ceilings that are painted white. Wood-paneled doors, with two simple, recessed panels, lead to small, similar-sized rooms on either side of the entrance hall. These rooms have wood flooring, white plaster walls and ceilings, and the bottom portions of one of the pointed-arch, stained-glass windows visible on the exterior. The room to the right of the entrance hall appears to have been used as a coat room, as indicated by a row of hooks around the room. This room also contains a wooden staircase along the west wall that leads to the second floor. The south side of the entrance hall contains a set of double wood-paneled doors leading to the sanctuary.

Interior of belfry, St. George's Catholic Church.

The central entrance has two concrete steps leading to the recessed rectangular opening with a double door. Each paneled wood door contains three tall, thin lights in the upper half of the door and one panel in the bottom half of the door. Above the double doors is a six-light transom that fills the remainder of the recessed entry, with two diagonal braces in the upper corners.

Fenestration consists of tall, narrow pointed-arch, colored stained-glass windows in the Gothic Revival style. These windows extend through the two stories on the eave sides. Uneven bricks give evidence of masonry repair that must have occurred during the change from two stories of 12/12 Greek Revival windows to a single row of tall, narrow Gothic-style windows that span two stories. On the gable-front is a quatrefoil stained-glass window in the window peak, and there are three pointed-arch, stained-glass windows, similar to, but shorter than those on the eave sides, in the second story. There are no windows in the first story of the north facade. The south facade of the main portion of the building has one 12/12 window that is positioned off center and above the rear addition. A small, pointed-arch, stained-glass window is visible near the top of the south facade of the addition.

building

St. George's Catholic Church

Building Description

The rectangular building faces north on its small lot, which sits on Town Highway 25 in the village of Bakersfield. Three buildings to the west of St. George's Catholic Church separate it from an intersection of Town Highway 25 and Vermont Route 108. Across the road from St. George's Church lies a cemetery, and to the west of the cemetery is a village green, separating it from Route 108. To the east of the building is roughly four acres of open land, owned by the town. To the southwest of the building is a small, wooded area. Town Highway 25 continues downhill to the east of St. GeorgeĆ­s Church. Small dirt parking lots flank the building and are adjacent to the road.

The 3 x 5 bay rectangular, gable-front, common bond brick building is two and a half stories tall, was built in 1840 as a Greek Revival structure, and was remodeled c.1905 with Gothic Revival features. The building has a stone foundation and is covered with a standing seam metal roof, which has a wooden cornice return and a wooden belfry. A one and a half story addition (c.1905) that extends from the rear facade has a hipped roof with a central hexagonal dormer facing south. The brick veneer and fieldstone foundation of the entire building has been painted red.

building