First Parish Church
About this property
The First Parish Church is a historic church at 218 Central Avenue in Dover, New Hampshire. The church was designed and built by Captain James Davis in 1825, inspired by the Federal style designs of Charles Bulfinch, Asher Benjamin, and Alexander Parris. It is the fifth home to a parish that was first gathered in 1633 at Dover Point. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The congregation is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. Dover's First Parish Church is located at the southern end of Dover's commercial downtown area, on the west side of Central Avenue (New Hampshire Route 9) at its junction with Church Street. It is a tall single-story masonry structure, built with load-bearing brick walls and a gabled roof with a stepped gable end at the front. A broad three-bay section projects from the front facade, with a fully pedimented gable and stepped gable parapet with a heavy baroque volute ornament adjacent to the tower base. The tower rises, its front face flush with the projection, to include a square clock stage and an open octagonal belfry topped by a lantern stage and steeple. Window bays are tall and topped by rounded arches. The front facade has three entrances, each topped by a stone lintel. The interior has a mid-to-late 19th-century appearance, with slip pews. The church was built in 1825 by James Davis, a local master joiner. Its design is based on the original appearance of St. John's Church in Portsmouth, which was a design of Alexander Parris and also originally featured the volutes found here. The Portsmouth church's design is in turn based on the works of Charles Bulfinch. This church's steeple is based on another church, located in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The church congregation, founded in 1633 at Dover Point, is the oldest in the state of New Hampshire. The site of its second church, built in 1654, is also listed on the National Register. National Register of Historic Places listings in Strafford County, New Hampshire Media related to First Parish Church (Dover, New Hampshire) at Wikimedia Commons Church website Archived 2010-07-29 at the Wayback Machine
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about First Parish Church
This page lists First Parish Church. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was First Parish Church listed on the National Register?
First Parish Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 11, 1982.
What type of historic resource is First Parish Church?
First Parish Church is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for First Parish Church?
The period of significance for First Parish Church is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near First Parish Church?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near First Parish Church will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Strafford County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Strafford County.
Explore StraffordCounty ›More historic places in New Hampshire
Browse all historic places in New Hampshire.
View New Hampshirehistoric sites ›New Hampshire history
Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.
New Hampshirehistory ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near First Parish Church will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.