Grace Church, Utica, New York
Design attributed to
Richard Upjohn
(English, 1802 - 1878)
Date1851
MediumWatercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
DimensionsOverall: 18 11/16 x 14 7/8in. (47.5 x 37.8cm)
ClassificationsDRAWINGS
Credit LineProctor Collection
Terms
Object numberPC. 945
Description On View
Not on viewCollections
CopyrightNo known copyright restrictions.
Label TextAn unsigned inscription on the back of this watercolor provides important information about the work’s subject and author, as well as its connection to the family that founded the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute: “Perspective view of Grace Church, Utica, N.Y. / as designed by Richard Upjohn, Architect, early in the / year 1851, at the request of Alfred Munson of Utica. / This view drawn and colored in Mr. Upjohn’s office / in New York, was, after the death of Alfred Munson, May 6. 1854, / brought thence and presented to his daughter, Mrs. J. Watson Williams, / by Rev. John J. Brandegee, the then Rector of the Parish.”
By the time Alfred Munson (1793-1854) asked Upjohn to design the church that stands in Utica at the corner of Genesee and Elizabeth Streets, he had already designed churches in Buffalo, New Berlin, Rome, and Watertown, New York. Munson donated $15,000 to build Grace Church. The corner stone was laid in 1856, two years after his death. His son-in-law, James Watson Williams (1810-73), was a vestryman of Grace Church and served on the church’s building committee. The building was first used in 1860, but a shortage of funds delayed construction of the tower until 1870, and the spire until 1875. As built, the tower and spire differ in several ways from how Upjohn’s watercolor proposed they should look. Mrs. James Watson Williams funded the construction of the spire, which was dedicated to her father and husband, both of whom were deceased when it was erected.
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