John W. Priest

{{Infobox architect

|name = John Weller Priest

|image =

|image_size =

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|nationality = American

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1825|10|6}}

|birth_place = New York City

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1859|7|24|1825|10|6}}

|death_place = Newburgh, New York

|practice =

|significant_buildings=

|significant_design =

|awards =

}}

File:Steeple of St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church (Baltimore, Maryland) 01.JPG in Waverly, Baltimore, designed by Priest and completed in 1860.]]

John W. Priest (1825-1859) was a noted American architect from New York and founding member of the American Institute of Architects.

Life and career

John Weller Priest was born October 6, 1825, in New York City. He was educated at Washington College, now Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut, graduating in 1845."Obituary" in [https://books.google.com/books?id=R4haAAAAYAAJ Crayon] 6, no. 9 (September, 1859): 288-289. His architectural training is unknown, though he had some association with Andrew Jackson Downing.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} By at least by the late 1840s Priest was practicing architecture from his home in Balmville, near Newburgh, though he also kept a business office in New York City. In 1852 Priest was included on a short list of architects approved by the New York Ecclesiological Society, an organization based on the Ecclesiological Society of London. Priest had been previously associated with the Society, and wrote a series of influential articles on architecture in its journal in 1849 and 1850.Phoebe B. Stanton, The Gothic Revival and American Church Architecture: An Episode in Taste, 1840-1856 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1968) Priest practiced architecture in Balmville until his death in 1859. Henry M. Congdon (1834-1922) was a student of Priest from 1854, and succeeded to the practice after his death. Also associated with Priest was Charles T. Rathbun (1828-1908), later a noted architect in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.Biographical detail in [https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=GBR.268 Historic Building Detail: GBR.268], Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System.

In 1857, Priest was one of the founding members of the American Institute of Architects.Everard M. Upjohn, Richard Upjohn: Architect and Churchman (New York: Columbia University Press, 1939)

Personal life

Priest was consistently in poor health, necessitating his residence and practice away from New York City. He died July 24, 1859, at the age of 33.

Legacy

Priest was one of only five architects approved by the New-York Ecclesiological Society. His work is limited because of his early death in 1859, not because he was an unimportant architect. He mentored architect Henry M. Congdon, who had an extensive and well-documented career in church architecture after Priest's death. The churches designed by Priest exhibit the high standards with careful proportions and detail espoused by the Ecclesiological Society. Additionally, several of his surviving works have been listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.

Architectural works

St. Michael's Episcopal Church (former), Academy Ln, Reisterstown, Maryland (1853, NRHP 1979)[https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/79003273 St. Michael's Church NRHP Registration Form] (1979)
St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 225 W 99th St, New York City (1854, demolished 1890)[https://mville.libguides.com/c.php?g=1111388&p=8110685 Edward Allen Jennings Collection], Manhattanville College Library.
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 119 Main St, Millburn, New Jersey (1855)Philip M. Read, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gDLiUH9MSiQC Anglicans in North Jersey: The Episcopal Diocese of Newark] (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2009)
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 200 N James St, Goldsboro, North Carolina (1855–57)[https://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/buildings/B000217 St. Stephen's Episcopal Church], North Carolina Architects and Builders.
Completion of St. Luke's Episcopal Church,{{efn|name=Baltimore|Begun in 1851 to designs by Niernsee & Neilson, but construction stopped in 1853. Priest threw out the original design and completed the building to his own.}} 217 N Carey St, Baltimore, Maryland (1857–59, NRHP 1973)[https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/73002196 St. Luke's Church NRHP Registration Form] (1973)
"Eagle's Nest" for Thomas Allen, East St, Pittsfield, Massachusetts (1858, demolished)Carole Owens, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WKclQ3DYqcQC&pg=PA31 Pittsfield: Gem City in the Gilded Age] (Charleston: History Press, 2008): 22
St. John's Episcopal Church,{{efn|name=Waverly|Replaced a building by Robert Cary Long Jr., built in 1849 and destroyed by fire in 1858.}} Waverly, Baltimore, Maryland (1858–60, NRHP 1974)[https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/74002214 St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church NRHP Registration Form] (1974)John Dorsey, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Cjfk1bWzKyoC Look Again in Baltimore] (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005)
Alterations to St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, 14300 St Thomas Church Rd, Upper Marlboro, Maryland (1858–59, NRHP 2000)[https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/00001504 St. Thomas' Church NRHP Registration Form] (2000)
St. John's Episcopal Church, 66 Clinton St, Cornwall, New York (1859)Lewis Beach, Cornwall (Newburgh: E. M. Ruttenber & Son, 1873))

His obituary indicates he designed churches in Alabama, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina, without naming them. It also indicates he was a prolific designer of houses, but of these only Eagle's Nest is known.