Northwest United Baptist Church
Title
Northwest United Baptist Church
Church Name
Northwest United Baptist Church
Church Association
Lunenburg - Queens Association
Province
Nova Scotia
County
Lunenburg County
Address
1609 Big Lots Road, Fauxburg
Status
Active
Date
Built 1818-1820
Historical Information
On November 3, 1809, a committee from the Baptist church of Newport and the Baptist church in Chester met in Lunenburg at the request of many Baptists to consider forming a church.
The Northwest United Baptist Church sits on a small embankment at the end of the Big Lots Road in Fauxburg, Lunenburg County. Built in 1818-1820 in the Transition Phase Meeting House style, Northwest United Baptist Church has a height of two-and-a-half storeys, a gable roof and symmetrically placed windows. Its design combines both ornate and simple decorative elements and features an off-centre door on its gable end. The building, cemetery and property are included in the provincial heritage designation.
The congregation was formed in 1809 under the guidance of the New Light preacher Joseph Dimock, leader of the dissenting members of the Christian faith who followed more evangelical teachings such as those professed by Henry Alline, founder of the New Light movement. Reverend Dimock led the Northwest congregation, while tending to his own parish in Chester until a permanent pastor was assigned to the congregation in 1817. Reverend Dimock continued throughout his life to be a leading religious figure in the province and was partly responsible for the transition of many New Light churches into fellowship with existing Baptist churches in Nova Scotia.
Reverend Dimock's evangelistic spirit remained with the small congregation and was highly influential in the continued existence of the congregation. This spirit of commitment is also evident in more recent endeavours of the congregation to preserve the church’s architecture and tradition. So not to risk disturbing the original appearance of the church, the congregation voted to dig the church basement by hand, to accommodate a kitchen and furnace room.
The Meeting House style of the church, of which Northwest United Baptist is an excellent example, features a plain symmetrical design which was common to buildings owned by dissenting religious groups in the eighteenth-century. This church is particularly unique because it exhibits characteristics of the Transition Phase, which saw the slow adoption of more traditional church designs including the addition of simple decorative elements.
The Northwest United Baptist church features several ornamentations such as corner boards styled as Greek Revival pilasters and an off-centre doorway that indicate the movement away from the traditional New England Meeting House style of basic design anchored in symmetry. In addition, the layout of the church with the main entrance on the gabled end instead of along one of the longest faces is indicative of a shift from the traditional Meeting House style. The pews in the church are situated with their backs to the main entrance as would be found in a traditional Meeting House layout; however, this means they are perpendicular rather than parallel to the longest face where the main entrance was traditionally located.
The later addition of a triple set of Gothic Revival arch windows on the rear elevation in the twentieth-century also indicates a continuation of the movement toward more ornately styled buildings. The Meeting House style is unique within Lunenburg County and the clear illustration of the Transition Phase in architectural design makes the Northwest United Baptist Church a unique example of architecture within the province.
Information from Description of Historic Place website.
The Northwest United Baptist Church sits on a small embankment at the end of the Big Lots Road in Fauxburg, Lunenburg County. Built in 1818-1820 in the Transition Phase Meeting House style, Northwest United Baptist Church has a height of two-and-a-half storeys, a gable roof and symmetrically placed windows. Its design combines both ornate and simple decorative elements and features an off-centre door on its gable end. The building, cemetery and property are included in the provincial heritage designation.
The congregation was formed in 1809 under the guidance of the New Light preacher Joseph Dimock, leader of the dissenting members of the Christian faith who followed more evangelical teachings such as those professed by Henry Alline, founder of the New Light movement. Reverend Dimock led the Northwest congregation, while tending to his own parish in Chester until a permanent pastor was assigned to the congregation in 1817. Reverend Dimock continued throughout his life to be a leading religious figure in the province and was partly responsible for the transition of many New Light churches into fellowship with existing Baptist churches in Nova Scotia.
Reverend Dimock's evangelistic spirit remained with the small congregation and was highly influential in the continued existence of the congregation. This spirit of commitment is also evident in more recent endeavours of the congregation to preserve the church’s architecture and tradition. So not to risk disturbing the original appearance of the church, the congregation voted to dig the church basement by hand, to accommodate a kitchen and furnace room.
The Meeting House style of the church, of which Northwest United Baptist is an excellent example, features a plain symmetrical design which was common to buildings owned by dissenting religious groups in the eighteenth-century. This church is particularly unique because it exhibits characteristics of the Transition Phase, which saw the slow adoption of more traditional church designs including the addition of simple decorative elements.
The Northwest United Baptist church features several ornamentations such as corner boards styled as Greek Revival pilasters and an off-centre doorway that indicate the movement away from the traditional New England Meeting House style of basic design anchored in symmetry. In addition, the layout of the church with the main entrance on the gabled end instead of along one of the longest faces is indicative of a shift from the traditional Meeting House style. The pews in the church are situated with their backs to the main entrance as would be found in a traditional Meeting House layout; however, this means they are perpendicular rather than parallel to the longest face where the main entrance was traditionally located.
The later addition of a triple set of Gothic Revival arch windows on the rear elevation in the twentieth-century also indicates a continuation of the movement toward more ornately styled buildings. The Meeting House style is unique within Lunenburg County and the clear illustration of the Transition Phase in architectural design makes the Northwest United Baptist Church a unique example of architecture within the province.
Information from Description of Historic Place website.
Files
Collection
Citation
“Northwest United Baptist Church,” Atlantic Baptist Built Heritage Project , accessed April 24, 2024, https://atlanticbaptistheritage.omeka.net/items/show/167.