Documenting Change since 2002

Central Congregational Church

also known as RISD’s Memorial Hall

Since its acquisition in 1902, this mid-19th-century church has been studio and student activity space adjacent to the RISD Museum

images of this Property

  • A central plan church of brownstone with symmetrical entrance three bays wide. Two identical towers are on either side of the entrance. All window openings are round arch topped and a decorative cornice runs along the pitched gable roof line.
    Architectural drawing by Thomas Tefft, 1852 — Brown University Library
  • 1950 — Providence Public Library, Rhode Island Photo Collection
  • 1950 — Providence Public Library, Rhode Island Photo Collection
  • 1950 — Providence Public Library, Rhode Island Photo Collection
  • Undated — Digital Commons @ RISD
  • Undated — Digital Commons @ RISD

11 images: Press to view larger or scroll sideways to see more. Contributions from the Brown University Library, Providence Public Library, and the Digital Commons @ RISD

About this Property

Redevelopment

This stately building was constructed as the Central Congregational Church for a new congregation of 82 charter members. The building, including the pipe organ, cost $59,000 in 1853.1

The architect was a rapidly rising star, Thomas Tefft, who had completed impressive designs for the Second Universalist Church and the Providence Railroad Depot as commissions while working for Tallman and Bucklin. He graduated from Brown University in 1851 and designed this church as a solo architect at the age of 27, six years before his early death.2 The drawing in the collection of the Brown University Library is a wonderful depiction of an ideal Tefft design complete with trios of elements, round-top windows and tall, elongated forms with drip cornice moulding.

Church membership grew steadily, reaching 487 by 1877, 24 years later at a rate of 16 members per year. By 1891, the congregation fundraised and started construction on a new church at 296 Angell Street. The new building was complete by 1893, and the congregation vacated this building on Benefit Street.3

The building sat vacant and unused until 1902, when RISD purchased it. Funds donated by Eliza Radeke Metcalf and her brothers funded the purchase as a memorial to a recently deceased family member. Howard Hoppin of the firm Hoppin and Ely was hired to renovate the interior spaced for RISD’s purposes.4

The original towers had to be removed in 1950 after damage sustained during the Hurricane of 1938, as seen in photos from the Providence Public Library collection.

Current Events

The building continues to be used by RISD as its painting studio (second floor) and student mail center (first floor).

History

From the College Hill Historic District nomination form, Edward F. Sanderson & Keith N. Morgan, January 1976

Central Congregational Church, now Memorial Hall, Rhode Island School of Design, 1853-6, 1903. Thomas A. Tefft, architect (1853). Early Romanesque Revival; end-gable roof flanked by twin towers without their original spires; brownstone facade and brick; triple arched entrances with three arched windows above; corbelled cornices.

  1. “Our History.” Central Congregational Church. Accessed 08 December 2024 from https://www.centralchurch.us/news/history/ ↩

  2. “Thomas A. Tefft.” Wikipedia. Accessed 08 December 2024 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Alexander_Tefft ↩

  3. Ibid. ↩

  4. Jordy, William H. et al. “Memorial Hall, RISD (Central Congregational Church).” SAH Archipedia. Accessed 08 December 2024 from https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-PR83.6 ↩