07-09 First Presbyterian Church in Bath, NY

Today we toured the sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church here in Bath, NY. It is one of five churches whose sanctuary was designed by Lewis Comfort Tiffany. Ladies in the church conduct tours on Wednesdays in July and August. It is a favorite for local brides because of its beauty and this long aisle.

The congregation was formed in 1808. The first church was built in 1825. When this church was outgrown, it was torn down and a new church built in the same location in 1877. It was built of locally quarried sandstone in a style called Victorian Gothic.

In 1895 a church member, Ira Davenport, hired Lewis Comfort Tiffany to redecorate the interior as a memorial to his brother, John, who had been a very active member of the church.

Tiffany is best know for his glass work, especially glass lamps. The church still has three Tiffany lamps. Two “acorn” shaped lights hang in the front of the sanctuary. These were originally gas lighted.

There is also a beautiful crown shaped chandelier in the narthex, which won a prize at a large exhibition before coming to the church.

Here is one of the Tiffany Glass side windows.

Here is the central Rose window made with Tiffany’s iridescent favrile glass. Its circular shape, used throughout the interior, represents eternity with no beginning or end.

The pulpit, the chancel rail, and supporting columns are made of white mahogany imported from India. The rails on each side of the pulpit are supported by 12 columns representing the 12 apostles.

On the front of the pulpit is a glass mosaic in a vine motif with leaves, tendrils and fruit referring to Christ’s words “I am the Vine”. There are 4776 glass pieces in the design.

Almost 30,000 glass pieces were used in the mosaics on the two railings.

There are seven pointed-arch niches behind the pulpit.

The panels in the niches appear to be more glass mosaics but are in fact delicately painted.

From 07-09 First Presbyterian Church Bath, NY

On the wall above the niches are metal panels beautifully painted to look like rich jewels.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and our time with the nice lady who showed us through the church. This is another place you will want to visit when in the NY Finger Lakes Region.