National Historic Landmark-First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Kingston

Completed in 1852, the Renaissance Revival First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Kingston, New York, is a nationally significant religious building by noted architect Minard Lafever that encapsulates both the maturation of his own career and design abilities and a key moment in nineteenth-century architectural expression in the United States.

Lafever's contribution to antebellum architecture is considerable, in particular church architecture and, more generally, the dissemination of the Greek Revival through his pattern book publications.

He attained visibility in New York City during the 1830s, as a talented group of architectural practitioners were exploiting a period of marked cultural activity, economic prosperity, and geographic expansion initiated by the completion of the Erie Canal and overall drift of westward settlement.

Lafever stood among this prominent group of early architectural professionals at a time when they began convening to collaborate on the establishment of standards in an effort to distinguish themselves from builders.

Courtesy National Park Service National Historic Landmarks

Image Courtesy Library of Congress Historic American Building Survey