Ruby Tuesday Too - Red Door

Anything historic often has a tradition. Why some traditions exist I cannot say, but some offer intrigue, beautiful architecture and perhaps a hint of ruby red. So for this week's edition of Ruby Tuesday Too, I am looking at Christ Episcopal Church in Ansonia, a lovely house of worship with the Episcopal red doors. It seems that there is a tradition of red doors, and a lot has been written about it...so I refer to this source with an interesting description. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful building opened in 1905 and the red doors are a nice feature...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Railings and Towers

Shadows fall before us in many unexpected places - and we hope to have a camera alongside. Which Patti and I did recently. Thus for Shadow Shot Sunday 2, the impressive 1896 Christ Episcopal Church in Ansonia is the subject today. This is the church profiled for SSS in 2011, and is always an impressive building that captures the more-southerly Autimn sky. Railings and towers always look especially nice as the leaves change colors and the temps fall...

Whimsical Windows - Sanctuary Stained Glass

For this week's meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, I look again to our house of worship, the First Congregational Church of Derby (CT). In an early 20th Century room addition to the original 1842 sanctuary, there are cool stained glass windows that are odd in this style of church as the original Puritans strove to never adorn their plain churches, which may have been the style in the 1700s - but not in 1901. A style with spiritual overtones...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Spring Cleanup

Pastor Jim is also a gardener...

Parishioners mulch...

Curb appeal enhanced as winter road sand is removed

For the weekly meme Shadow Shot Sunday 2, shadows were aplenty in April as the Spring cleanup at our house of worship, the First Congregational Church of Derby (CT). 

The 1842 building is the classic old white church seen all over New England greens, and after an unusually cold Winter, a cleanup of the winter grunge, new plantings and sand removal is in order. Patti's capture offers us  well defined shadows too. 


Spring indeed has sprung...

Whimsical Windows - Upward perspectives

I aim skyward for Toby's meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, and the subject is a wheelchair height is the ubiquitous congregational in the center of a New England town, this being in urban East Hartford CT on a warmer (than now) day. Under a splash of sun, it appears almost as a skyscraper. I know it isn't, but being seated so low, things appear to climb on and up. Unusal perspectives combined with an active immagination can be a fun thing, at least if you are me :)

Whimsical Windows - Church Quilts

Toby's fun meme, Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors is back amidst tough times in Israel - unguided rockets are terrorizing. We hope, and (yes) pray for inhabitants who never seek wartime conditions but are forced to live through them...

We are inside the normally austere Puritan style and white Seymour (CT) Congregational Church. The view inside is less severe with Patti's capture of the quilts made by church members draping the railings along the balcony railings. Red, white and blue knitted masterpieces adorn the sanctuary - an fine antidote to Puritan sensibilities :)

Whimsical Windows - Austere in Paradise

Toby most graciously hosts the fun meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors. Today is an architectural oddity ins style...on Saturday, my daughter found am old photo book from 1980 which chronicled a vacation trip to visit old friends in Florida. And while scanning photos, I found this. A church, and what I find so different is the plain style - not New England Puritan and no Spanish influences one might expect in the Sunshine State. Yet its plain shape is most appealing to me. With nothing ornate to distract us, we can focus on the one true God alone. Which makes this such a lovely building...

Whimsical Windows - The Old First Church

Toby hosts the architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors. Today I offer views taken by Patti of the Old First Church in Bennington Vermont. 

The present sanctuary was designed by architect Lavius Fillmore completed in 1805, restored in 1994. Of interest is that the poet and Bennington resident Robert Frost is interred in the old burial grounds aside the church. These were taken by her in early October - Fall foliage and New England pair perfectly. The seasonal traffic and spectators attest to that!

Ruby Tuesday - Colorful Church Glass

Ruby Tuesday 2 and stained glass - are a perfect pairing. We attend a Congregational church in nearby Derby. Built in 1821, the sanctuary structure is the usual Puritan stark* - white, wood, angular and no frills nor style. Just like its 17-19th century dour practitioners. However, the offices and meeting room were built after 1900 have many a stained glass window that were donated by worshipers. These portals look magnificent with sunlight light filtering through the artistic and colorful effects. Lots of ruby for RT2...


* - Unlike the US Episcopalian church which derived from the Anglican/Church of England - those churches tend to be more ornate than the white buildings that dot the New England town squares. Not Westminster ornate perhaps, but not undecorated white wood either...

Whimsical Windows - Stained Glass Puritan

Inside the modern day puritan house of worship. Taken by Patti

Inside the stark white church, a hint of color. Also taken by Patti

Toby hosts the most excellent architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors. Today, I am at our Congregational church in the neighboring town of Derby. The church sanctuary was built in 1821, and the Congregation tradition actually goes back to the Puritans from England - that means that those dour practitioners had a severe austerity in their viewpoints...and in their architecture, the stark white buildings with nary a frill in design which precluded stained glass in those days. Yet, the office addition was built later, perhaps around 1900. And this side has lovely stained glass windows, donated by parishioners at the time. Not austere, but beautiful additions to the colonial style. See more building style at WWDD

Shadow Shot Sunday - Steeple Shadows

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back, and I am looking at shadows that fall around the steeple and building of our church, the 1st Congregational Church in our neighboring town of Derby. Built in 1821, it fits the mold of the white Congregational church in the center of a New England town. The shadow here were probably taken in Winter and Spring 2005 after a restoration of the building and cupola base of the steeple. Plenty of intricate shadows up there - the view to the front door leaves us with shade covering the sanctuary. A New England tradition still...see shadowy art, spiritual and otherwise at SSS2

Whimsical Windows - Bucolic Green

Derby CT town green seen from Fifth Street

Toby hosts the fun Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors in which we look for architectural gems. This is the green of the small (12,500) city of Derby Connecticut. In the northeast of the USA, a white clapboard congregational church sitting near the green is oft repeated. What we see is the the Second Congregational Church (1845). The Civil War monument adds to the historic aura. Note that the pointed steeple is missing - lost in Hurricane Gloria in 1985. If not for the parking meter, this possibly is what the past may have looked like in its day...

Whimsical Windows - Tall Spire

Toby hosts the fun architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors. This week I am staying local and offer views from our neighboring town of Derby Connecticut. This is St. Mary's Church on Elizabeth Street. This was a house of worship primarily for the Irish immigrants that moved to this area for work starting in the mid-1890s, and due to this growth, a new building was needed, and fast. Thus, the cornerstone was laid down on September 23, 1906 and completed on July 4, 1907, a true accomplishment. I have been unable to find the height of the spire but do guess it to be around 200 feet - and even taller feeling as it sits on a hill above the road (and of course I sit even lower than most :). Visit this fun meme for windows and doors of note...

Whimsical Windows - Red doors and more

Toby is the host of the fun Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors where portals of interest are showcased. Today, I offer for the meme the Immanuel St James Episcopal Church in nearby Derby. This stately building was built in 1843 in a gothic style, Like many small New England town incorporated a town green that was flanked by many houses of worship. This is a beautiful structure, and although I have not been inside - imagine the stained glass windows under a long southerly winter sun. The views are from around the town green – we always ought to tote a camera around lest we miss the beauty that is often not far from home…

Whimsical Windows - Local Byzantine

At ground level by the St Peter-St Paul Church, Howard Avenue, Ansonia, Connecticut 

Toby hosts the fun Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, and we hope to capture unique portals.  

Today I show part of the Saint Peter-Saint Paul Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ansonia. We are in an old industrial town immigrants that immigrants from Eastern Europe who originally worshiped here from countries such as the Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. 

This building was completed in 1915, and is in a Byzantine style, the domes clad in copper (befitting Ansonia, known as the Copper City). I notice a few buildings where the copper has turned to a green hue like this one. I would imagine the cost to restore the roof to its copper hue would be astronomical, so the copper stays as is. However, the dome and windows have a very unique shape... 

Patti and I were in an old school next door yesterday, and I noticed the church through a large window. Since she had the camera, and I saw windows perfect for the meme. I asked and she kindly took this shot. If we pay attention with camera in hand, we may capture even more architectural gems…

Whimsical Windows - Portal in Red

Toby hosts the fun weekly meme, Whimsical Windows / Delirious Doors. In this, we look for windows, doors, and other architectural gems. I am in hometown of Ansonia CT. This is Christ (Episcopal) Church. This stone edifice is the third building of the congregation, and was of opened in 1896. What stands out is the door, painted in red as per the Episcopalian custom in the northeast US. The stonework is beautiful, the windows also a classic 19th century style found in all these old industrial towns - it still works well through the decades and centuries...

Also posted as part of Tina's 29 Days

Ruby Tuesday 2 - Curving

Ruby Tuesday 2 reappears, and we comply with the one simple rule: red, any shade and either a lot or a little!

The burgundy staircase sits in our church in Derby. The 1821 building offers those brave enough to access the balcony and bell tower will find a narrow, steep and curvy climb up. The lack of safety will be obvious to to careful climbers and potentially dangerous to the careless. I am unable to make the climb, so I'll leave the ascent to others...See ruby from all over at this fun meme, hosted by Gemma and MMT - thanks!

Whimsical Windows - New England Congregational

Whimsical Windows / Delirious Doors returns again courtesy of Toby. We look for architectural gems in portals and other places.

Today, the subject is our church, the First Congregational Church in Derby Connecticut. This structure was built in the 1820s. The pillars are a Greco-Roman style, the windows have the period twelve- over-twelve pane look, the clock sits on the steeple with a weathervane on top and the color is white.

What seems constant is that this structure is not all that unique in New England - on every town green, the church/meetinghouse was and is still
prevalent in all six states.

Naturally,there have been updates from those tymes: Central heating instead of a stove,modern double-paned insulated windows and central air-conditioning are all installed. There is interesting architecture nearby to all our domiciles. We merely have to capture it!