Emanuel Baptist Church, Brooklyn, NY, 1888, Orig. Plan 

A Beautifully Detailed, Original Plan of the Emanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York.  HAND-COLORED.  F. H. Kimball, Architect.  From the American Architect and Building News, April 23, 1888.

"The new congregation at first retained Ebenezer L. Roberts, the architect of Standard Oil's headquarters at 26 Broadway, of the Washington Avenue church and of Pratt's own house at 232 Clinton Avenue, between DeKalb and Willoughby Avenues, a few blocks away. But only an initial chapel at the back of the lot was built from Roberts's design. The final church was designed by Francis H. Kimball, a sophisticated architect with English training.

Roberts's superseded design had been firmly American, an eclectic collection of round, square and arched forms. But Kimball's church was an archeologically correct rendition of the early French Gothic style, although two towers were never built. Montgomery Schuyler, the architectural critic, called the Kimball church ''very rich, scholarly and well-considered'' in an 1898 article in The Architectural Record and he noted with relief that the earlier section by Roberts was ''mercifully screened'' by trees.

The 900-seat interior is what is special about Emmanuel Baptist, a high, square sanctuary with a long vaulted roof over wide galleries, the whole space almost completely intact from 1887, down to the wall decorations designed by William H. Day. Two huge brownstone columns support the gallery, but otherwise the inside is an expanse of dark woodwork, stained glass and intricate wall stenciling."  Christopher Gray, New York Times, November 15, 1998. 

This picture is extremely hard to find, as the American Architect and Building News not only had a very small circulation during that time, but very few were actually preserved or colored as this has been.  It measures 13.25 by 17.25 inches.  LARGE PICTURE.  Has a mat border and foam core backing (not attached to the picture).  The whole plan measures 14.75 by 20.75 inches (with mat border).  Finely detailed and beautifully hand-colored.  Shrink wrapped.

Plan is in VG condition with browning to the edges, a crease across the center and light crinkling.

This is a highly unusual, scarce item. See our other auctions for more hand-colored original plans.

Also, check out our BRAND NEW searchable database of 19th Century hand-colored architectural plans here: Architectural Database