The authoritative source on
  early churches of New Jersey

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We've created a database and photographic inventory on more than half the 18th & 19th century churches in the state and add to it each month. We welcome and solicit all contributions and suggestions from our visitors.

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Glossary
List of churches, by county
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   Photographic Inventory

Our Lady of Mercy Chapel
Whippany, Morris County

In its plan, this 1854 church is quite traditional in design, but with the lancet windows and other elements that provide a vertical emphasis, it is clearly in the Gothic mode. There is some speculation that the church was designed by either Aaron Hudson of Mendham or Jeremiah O’Rourke, who designed hundreds of Catholic churches on the eastern seaboard, but I am skeptical. Although the overall proportions are well-conceived, the façade is both cluttered and disjointed; I believe a local builder took a basic plan—even one of Upjohn’s simple wooden Gothic churches—and made his own modifications.

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Copyright (c) 2004 Frank L. Greenagel