Shaker Church Family Dwelling House, State Route 4A, Enfield, Grafton County, NH

Significance: Unusually large and heavy masonry structure for this area. The largest of several remaining buildings of a defunct Shaker colony. Characteristically Shaker in its lack of decoration and austerity. / The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, known as the Shakers, organized a communal society at Enfield, New Hampshire in 1793. In time, the self-contained society acquired over 300 members and 3,000 acres of land, and developed numerous industries. The Church Family Dwelling House, built between 1837 and 1841, was the largest dwelling built by the Shakers. Although built largely by the Shakers themselves, the society employed some help from the "world's people" in the design and construction of the building. The building's simple, Greek Revival design is attributed to the prominent American architect, Ammi Burnham Young, who later became Supervising Architect of the Treasury. Luther Kingsley, a Boston stonemason, was contracted to assemble the wall of locally quarried white granite. An unusual feature of this structure was the system of heavy timber trusses within the floors and walls of the third and fourth floors. These trusses supported the upper floors to allow a second floor meeting room to extend the full width of the building, 54'-4", uninterrupted by columns. The dwelling house was the most distinctive structure at Enfield. It was one of the earliest stone structures designed by Young and was probably the largest stone building north of Boston when constructed. Widely acclaimed after its completion in 1841, it represents a major undertaking for its time.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-56

Survey number: HABS NH-75

Building/structure dates: 1837- 1841 Initial Construction

stone buildings group dwellings domestic life religions enfield church shaker church house state route grafton grafton county new hampshire lisa l becker jack e boucher patrick m burkhart deborah s burns henry c edwards enfield shakers historic american buildings survey janet l hochuli william hosley liz jandoli aubrey p janion luther kingsley robert g krebs preston maynard osmund r overby elmer r pearson david tillson united society of believers in christ second appearing ammi burnham young photo ultra high resolution high resolution architecture assembly plants manufacturing plants building church buildings library of congress public domain christian images

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html