Drawings: Architectural Resources at the American Antiquarian Society

The American Antiquarian Society’s collection of architectural drawings includes many plans from Massachusetts and elsewhere in the U.S. There are plans and designs for buildings in the city of Worcester and surrounding towns. Public buildings such as the Central Exchange (1843), Electric Building (n.d), Worcester Town Hall (n.d.), and possibly the most famous, Charles Bulfinch’s design for the Courthouse (ca. 1803), which has since been torn down represent the fine architecture of Worcester. The Society also holds an 1879 painted competition drawing by Stephen Earle for the Worcester Union Congregational Church.

Bulfinch's
Worcester Courthouse

Boyden's
Congregational Church

Earle & Fuller's
St. Johns Church

One of America’s best-known architects, Asher Benjamin, is represented with a drawing for the design of the Asa Waters House in Millbury. A collection of Elbridge Boyden’s plans and drawings for Cushing Academy are in the assortment of drawings. Church plans and drawings include a hand-painted drawing of Boyden’s design for the Congregational Church in Spencer (1879), the blueprints for Bigelow and Wadsworth’s (1898-1907) restoration of Old South Church in Boston (ca. 1899), and the design for St. John’s Church in North Adams (n.d.), the latter containing original paint samples for the church. This is the west elevation of the church and original paint samples chosen specifically for the church.

Earle's
Union Congregational Church

Benjamin's
Asa Waters House

The Worcester drawings are the subject of Lisa Koenigsberg's "Renderings from Worcester's Past" published in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society in 1986. Many Elbridge Boyden plans from Albany, New York, and Connecticut are in the collection of the Society.