Exterior

The building itself is faced in load-bearing locally quarried bluestone, set in a random ashlar pattern with limestone trim. It consists of a main sanctuary building oriented north–south with an east–west lecture hall wing on the north end and attached multi-stage bell tower at the northwest corner. The gabled roof is clad in raised-seam metal, with a modillioned wooden cornice. It is pierced by skylights corresponding to the exterior windows, currently covered in plastic, just above the roofline.^[2]

Fenestration on both side profiles consists of five large round-arched stained glass windows framed by molded limestone casings with bracketed sills. On the east in the center is an engaged buttress added to shore up the wall. A three-bay projecting pavilion on the west supports the bell tower. Its entrance is a single door with round-arched window above and on the sides. Its lowest stage is a three-story masonry tower with wooden cornices separating the stories, topped by three frame ones above a curved cornice. The lower two are octagonal, one featuring a clock and the next louvered round-arched vents. The uppermost stage, the conical steeple, has ribs defining its eight facts and is covered with diamond-shaped wooden shingles.^[2] Kingston's city ordinances prohibit the construction of any building taller than its base in the Stockade District.^[6]

The lecture hall addition on the north is similar to the main church block. It is a two-story bluestone structure with slate roof, mostly shielded from view by the church and adjacent buildings.^[2]

A similar projecting gabled pavilion, with battered corners, on the Main Street side frames the main entrance. Two bluestone steps with iron railings lead up to a pair of slightly recessed paneled wooden doors topped by a fanlight with tracery. The limestone surround is topped with a keystone. Limestone is also used for the corner bases and courses at ground level and continuing the cornice line at that level. Similarly appointed but smaller doors flank the main entrance.^[2]

Interior

In the narthex a small display case contains items of significance from the church's history: the first communicants' tablet, and a letter from George Washington thanking the congregation for its hospitality to him on a 1782 visit (This is reportedly his only writing during the entire eight years of the Revolutionary War that mentions any religious institution.^[7]) Across from the main entrance three round-arched doors corresponding to those on the outside lead into the main sanctuary.^[2]

1907 postcard of interior

The sanctuary itself is painted off-white, with the stained glass windows, red carpeting, gilding and mahogany trim of the pews providing a contrast. Corinthian columns, creating lateral arcades, provide corbeled support to groin vaults. The arcading partially encloses the balcony. A simulated clerestory level is illuminated by the skylights supplemented by electric lighting in the original wall sconces. The walls themselves are plaster on lath with beaded wainscoting ending in a chair rail.^[2]

A raised wooden platform supports the pulpit, carved with some classical motifs such as rectangular, rounded lozenges and foliation, some of it gilded, echoing the wall behind it. It has two front piers that resemble antae. On the wall above the pulpit is a Palladian Tiffany stained glass window depicting the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple framed by gilded moldings and flanked by pairs of fluted Corinthian pilasters. Bronze statues of angels are on either side.^[2]

On the south wall is a choir loft with the church's pipe organ. It is in a case with another Palladian motif and carvings similar to those in the pulpit, and also framed with fluted Corinthian pilasters. A large swan-necked broken pediment is atop the case.^[2]

The church's box pews have hinged doors, scrolled armrests and seat cushions. They all face forward on the ground floor except for the two rows in the front. On the upstairs galleries they face the opposite wall. Metal and marble memorial plaques line the walls, and a door on the northwest side leads to the tower vestibule.^[2]

George Clinton's grave

Cemetery

The remainder of the church lot is given over to its cemetery.^[8] It contains around 300 headstones, many of which predate the current church. The stonework on many is detailed and high in quality.^[2] 1710 is the earliest date for which one is legible, but church records show burials as early as 1679, and some that have not yet been translated may have taken place earlier. Not all graves were marked. The most recent stone dates to 1832.^[9]

At least 70 of the stones are believed to be Revolutionary War-era veterans. George Clinton, former Governor of New York and U.S. Vice President under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, is buried here under a large obelisk in the churchyard's southwest corner. He was moved here from Washington in 1908 and reburied in a full ceremony. Another large monument to "Patriotism" in the southeast corner honors the volunteers of the 120th New York Infantry during the Civil War. It was commissioned by George H. Sharpe, a Kingston native and colonel of volunteers for the 120th.^[2]

17th and 18th centuries

Original church building, as it appeared before 1721

Like many churches, the Old Dutch Church began with informal meetings, in its case starting around May 1658, when Kingston was still known as Wiltwyck, part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. Jacob Stoll, a local settler, led services for 11 others in his house in the absence of an ordained minister or actual building. The following year it was formally organized, and in 1660 received its first dominie, or minister, Hermanus Blom.^[2] A parsonage was built at the order of Peter Stuyvesant in 1662. It was used as a school and court as well, and possibly an Indian trading post.^[9]

Church lore holds that a crude log meetinghouse, built into the stockade that had been built around the small city,^[7] was erected near the current location in 1661, although whether it was there has been disputed. Any structure that did exist was destroyed in 1663 during the Second Esopus War.^[7] By 1680 a small stone building was in use there. Records of the time describe it as 60 feet (18 m) wide long and 45 feet (14 m) wide. A later history notes that it was extravagantly furnished for the time and place with stained glass windows bearing coats of arms.^[2]

Services of that era were austere and lengthy, conducted in strict accordance with Calvinist beliefs. On the Sabbath day, liquor consumption, discharge of firearms and beating of drums were forbidden, with steadily escalating penalties starting at one Flemish pound. The church itself was unheated, due to fears of fire. Some congregants brought small stoves to warm their feet in winter. They sat in seats on either side of the sanctuary. A Vorleser (reader) and Vorsanger (music leader) assisted the minister. There were no books for the audience since many were illiterate. The church did not have an organ since they were considered a work of the devil.^[9]

After the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the 1667 Treaty of Breda turned New Netherland over to the English, and Wiltwyck became Kingston. The trustees of the Kingston Patent generously funded the church, by transferring to it a thousand acres (400 ha) in the north of the town, which the church subdivided and sold.^[9]

In 1712 the church requested a royal charter; seven years later it was granted by King George I in exchange for a peppercorn in rent every year.^[9] Two years later, in 1721, it was expanded, early in the half-century tenure of Dominie Petrus Vas. A doop huys, a sort of chapel, was built to handle baptisms, meetings and other consistorial activities. Vas would, three decades later, oversee the construction of a second church building. Surviving prints show a gambrel-roofed meetinghouse two bays wide with a tower on the front. Its siding seems to have been limestone rubble, although the first print shows a material that could be either in a coursed ashlar pattern or parging to mimic coursed stone. Fenestration consisted of three round-arched windows along the sides. It was dedicated on November 29, 1752, by Georg Wilhelm Mancius, Vas's assistant.^[2]

Church following repairs

In October 1777, the church, like many other buildings in the city, was damaged by fires set by British forces retaliating against the recently proclaimed capital of the independent state of New York after the Battle of Saratoga. It was gutted, but the walls still stood. The congregation strongly supported the Patriot cause throughout the war.^[7] In 1782, George Washington, garrisoned near Newburgh to the south, visited the church. He enjoyed his visit enough that he wrote the congregation the letter of thanks currently displayed in its museum.^[2] By 1790 repairs to the church were complete. The tower was rebuilt with a cupola and clocks on all sides.^[9]

19th century

The first decade of the new century brought change to the church and its community. In 1803 the trustees of the patent decided to sell all their remaining landholdings and dissolve. Upon completing this task two years later, they disbursed £3,000 to the church. That same year Kingston was formally incorporated as a village. In 1808 the village surveyed the property on which the church proper stood and formally conveyed it to the church. The next year, the church began to break with its cultural roots, holding its last services in Dutch.^[2]

In 1816 the church established the first Sunday school in Ulster County. Its goal was to teach local African-Americans to read the Bible. The church did in this in the context of publicly saying that it looked forward to "the time when people of color will be entitled to the rights of citizenship".^[11]

Burials in the church cemetery stopped in 1830. A cholera epidemic swept Kingston that year, and as the graveyard filled up quickly the consistory decided against allowing any more. One exception was a woman who died in 1832, possibly the last burial in the churchyard.^[9]

The church building, too, was reaching the limit of its capacity. The original parsonage was torn down and a new brick church with Romanesque arched windows erected. Its roof was damaged by a lightning strike in 1840 that tore a large hole in it. No one was present in the church at the time and services were held the next Sunday.^[9]

Within two decades the new church was already reaching its capacity, with over a thousand congregants. In 1848, a group of parishioners broke away when the Classis of Ulster denied permission for a new building and formed the Second Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston two blocks away on Fair Street, ending the Old Church's hegemony over Kingston. This did not adequately relieve the overcrowding. In 1850 the church resolved to replace the old building, which was still suffering the effects of the lightning strike.^[2] The next year the church bought another nearby parcel to enlarge its cemetery, in preparation for the construction of a new building. How they chose Lafever is not known, but in 1852 they began construction of his church, grounding the building in trenches instead of excavating a full cellar, so as not to disturb the graves in the area. The cornerstone was laid in May.^[9]

After a year and a half of construction work, costing $33,000 ($1,161,000 in contemporary dollars^[12]), the church was dedicated in September 1852. The contractors were paid for work beyond the original scope. It is not known whether Lafever ever visited the site or modified his design while construction was underway.^[2]

Two years later, its original steeple, at 239 feet (73 m)^[9] the tallest in the state at that time,^[7] crashed to the ground when the roof collapsed during a Christmas Eve windstorm. The cause was traced to the 50 tons (46 tonnes) of slate roofing the church elders had substituted for Lafever's tin, creating a load greater than the structure was intended to support.^[2]

1912 reunion of 120th New York Infantry at church

The church sold the brick building, which it no longer needed. After a few other owners, it became the property of the state, which used it as an armory. When the Civil War started, the church, long active in the abolitionist movement,^[7] became the center of parishioner George H. Sharpe's efforts to organize the 120th New York Infantry. The unit drilled in the armory and fought in battles ranging from Fredericksburg to Appomattox.^[7] Its battle flags hang in the Old Church's narthex.^[9] After the war, it was consecrated as St. James Catholic Church

In 1861 the church closed for ten months in order to erect the current steeple. Another structural problem, the shifting of its east wall, had been noticed and was mentioned in a report by the state engineer's office in 1874. It was attributed at the time to the lack of a full basement due to the decision to leave the underlying graves intact. In 1882 the church started another building campaign to address this and other issues.^[2]

Not only had the wall shifted, the ceiling had suffered. It was replastered, and the exterior buttress was built. Lafever's original tin was restored to the roof.^[2] A small stone chapel was built on the north side.^[9]

At the beginning of 1892, the church dedicated the new stained glass window, a gift in remembrance of a congregant's parents. Made from Favrile glass by one of Louis Comfort Tiffany's artists, it depicts the Presentation of Christ at the Temple. It was lit at first by gas, and later electricity. It marks the last significant change to the church's interior.^[2]

Four years later, in 1896, Sharpe's monument to his volunteers was added to the graveyard. The 16-foot (4.9 m) statue, the work of Byron M. Pickett, was dedicated in a ceremony attended by many of the 120th's former members.^[9] It is the only Civil War monument erected to a unit's members by that unit's commander,^[7] and one of the rare examples of such a war monument anywhere.^[13] The plot it stands on was reportedly deeded to the monument itself.^[9]

20th century

The early 20th century saw several events related to funerary matters. In 1901, the church held one of the official funeral services following the assassination of President William McKinley. Seven years later, the remains of George Clinton, an Episcopalian, were transferred from Washington to the churchyard, where he was reburied with full honors, under the same obelisk he had originally been buried under, within sight of the steps of the courthouse where he had been sworn in as New York's first governor in 1777.^[13][14] Shortly after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the church held a memorial service for the victims.^[7]

The following year a small stone building at the corner of Washington Avenue and Joys Lane, known as Bethany Chapel, was sold to the church. In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt, then governor and himself a Dutch American native of the Hudson Valley, spoke at ceremonies commemorating the 150th anniversary of Washington's visit.^[9]

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, who visited the church as a princess

Bethany Chapel was sold in 1946, and burned down shortly thereafter. Five years later, when the church needed to expand its facilities again, the small chapel on the north that had been created in 1883 was enlarged to include a second story, with choir room, classroom and kitchen as well. Bluestone sympathetic to the original design was used. The new wing was named Bethany Annex in honor of the chapel building.^[2] The next year, to celebrate the centenary of the church building, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and her consort, Bernhard, attended services. Her daughter, then-Princess Beatrix, followed her in 1959, during commemorations of Henry Hudson's voyage up the river on the Halve Maen and the church's tercentenary.^[14]

The later years of the 20th century would see more renovations. In the mid-1970s the east wall was shored up again, and the steeple was repainted in its current white from its previous gray.^[14] In 1996 the Patriotism monument to the 120th was restored.^[9] Other historic Kingston buildings benefited from the church's focus on restoration and preservation. When city hall began suffering from neglect in the late 20th century, some congregants removed the surviving bas-relief plaster lunettes depicting scenes in the city's history from the building's facade and stored them in the church's basement. They were returned to city hall when it was restored in 2000.^[7]

21st century

As with the century just past, the first major event of the new century at the church was an observance of national grief. On the evening of September 11, 2001, it was opened to all members of the community for impromptu services in the wake of that day's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.^[7]

After several years of restorations and maintenance, the church, with the help of the State Historic Preservation Office, applied to the National Park Service (NPS) for National Historic Landmark status.^[15]

U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey lobbied the NPS on the church's behalf, and in October 2008 his office made the first announcement of the designation.^[16] Several months later he was also present as the church officially received its plaque.^[17] That year, the church celebrated its 350th anniversary at events like its annual Washington dinner and Pinkster.^[13] The current pastor, Ken Walsh, started the year by doing the liturgy as it was in 1659, in the vestments a minister of that era would have worn. He has advanced to a different century every three months, to reach the present day by the end of the year.^[18]

Hinchey spoke at the church in 2010 to lobby for passage of a federal urban development bill which included a $350,000 grant to shore up the church, replacing steel girders which had done that since 2004. At that time the bill had passed the House but not the Senate. The structural problems have been attributed to the graves it was built on.^[19]