View of the exterior of Bruton Parish Church taken by F.S. Lincoln in 1935. A smaller seventeenth-century structure stood on the site from 1683 until 1715, when the larger and more elaborate cruciform-style church replaced it. Located at the edge of Palace Green on the corner of Duke of Gloucester Street and Palace Street, the church was originally designed by colonial Governor Alexander Spotswood.

A series of restoration efforts began under Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin's direction between 1903-1907 and continued periodically until completed in 1940. In this 1935 photo of the south facade of Bruton Parish Church, the building retains the Colonial Revival window shutters and screen doors installed by architect J. Stewart Barney during his 1906 renovation of the exterior, according to how be believed the church appeared in the eighteenth century. The shutters and screen doors were later removed during final restoration efforts in 1939, given the availability of further research information.

The original wooden frame of a small bull's-eye window (accession # AF-21.1.1), removed from the east end of the church around 1906, is now in the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's architectural fragments collection. Otherwise, the building's exterior walls and windows are original and the interior has been restored to its eighteenth-century appearance. Large bull's-eye windows are still visible today in the south-facing end of the church (facing Duke of Gloucester Street) and the east end (facing Palace Green). Bruton Parish continues to serve an active Episcopal congregation and has functioned as a site of worship for the community since the parish was first founded in 1674.

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Various 19th-century modifications are documented in this photograph. One of three chimneys along the roof ridge is visible on the right. Added in 1840, when the altar was moved to the west end and a new entrance cut into the east façade, the chimneys provided ventilation for three large stoves used to heat the interior. A clock face is mounted on the steeple and almost obscures the small window in the octagonal section of the tower. Shutters cover the round-headed windows. Ivy climbs the east wall and thickly curtains the brick.

Fortunately, the overall exterior appearance of the church remained intact into the twentieth-century. During his first period as rector of Bruton Parish Church from 1903-1907, Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin oversaw restoration of the interior to commemorate the Jamestown Tercentenary of 1907. Further restoration work, including removal of the unauthentic exterior window shutters, occurred in 1939.]]> Rights and reproductions]]>
The caption reads: "Built in 1710. Here Washington and three other presidents worshipped. The bell in the steeple, made in England in 1761, was the first in America to proclaim civil independence. The lecturn was presented by President Roosevelt, and the Bibles by King Edward VII, and President Wilson."]]> AV-2003-06-22-V]]> [Identifications supplied by Inez Thornton]]]>