The Congregational Church of Ludlow is located at the northwest corner of Pleasant and Elm Streets in the Town and Village of Ludlow, Windsor County, Vermont. This Shingle-Style church was constructed 1891-1892 and except for some minor changes, is historically intact. It is a rare example of an intact mature Shingle Style church in Vermont. The building has always served as a church. It is in good condition and is well-maintained by its current owner, the United Church of Ludlow. The building retains its integrity of location, setting, design, workmanship, feeling, materials and association, and there are no threats to its integrity.

Ludlow is a town with a population of 2,400. It is located in the southwestern corner of Windsor County and is bordered by the Green Mountains to the west. The township is traversed by the Black River and its tributaries, which flow into the Connecticut River. Ludlow consists of Ludlow Village and two hamlets, Smithville and Grahamsville, otherwise it is rural. It is also the home of the Okemo Mountain ski resort, which is at the west end of Ludlow Village.

Ludlow Village is listed on the State Register of Historic Places. It is located at the confluence of the Black River and Jewell Brook, and contains a historic linear business district along the east-west Main Street, which is part of Vermont Route 103 and follows the Black River. Running north-south through the town and village is Vermont Route 100, which runs the length of the state over the Green Mountains. There are historic residential neighborhoods generally one block deep off of Main Street, including the neighborhood that the subject church is located. A triangular town common is located just east of the intersection of Main Street and Elm Street, which contains historic public and residential buildings. The church is located one block south of the common.

The Congregational Church of Ludlow (hereinafter called "the church") is located at 46 Pleasant Street, in an intact nineteenth-century residential neighborhood that appears to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The densely-settled neighborhood consists of mostly single family homes with uniform moderate setbacks.

The church sits on a small, flat lot, faces Pleasant Street, and has a forty foot setback, which is a much larger setback from the street than the nearby homes. It has a fifteen foot setback from Elm Street. Just west of the church is the 1905 Shingle Style church parsonage. Behind the church is a gravel driveway leading to a 1961 two-bay garage that faces Elm Street.

This asymmetrical two-and-a-half story church has a hand-tooled mortared fieldstone foundation, wood shingled walls, and a cross-gable slate roof. The complex form of the church is formed by the T-shaped footprint of the main block and rear ell plus several projections: a dominant three-story projecting corner bell tower at the southeast corner, a small one-story projection at the right end of the west elevation of the main block, a two-story projecting tower at the northeast corner of the ell, an enclosed porch spanning the east elevation of the ell between the main block and rear corner tower, a two-story shallow projection that spans most of the west elevation of the main block and shares a roof slope with the one-story projection, forming a catslide roof, and an enclosed staircase at the rear gable wall, to the right of the rear tower. A large unadorned brick chimney rises off-center from the roof ridge.

The steeply-pitched side-gable roof of the main block has a large centered cross-gable dormer with a ridge almost as high as that of the main block. The slightly tapered bell tower interrupts the valley between the dormer window and the main roof. This tower has an open, colonnaded belfry under a slate bell roof. The rear octagonal tower has an octagonal slate roof. The one-story projection has a foundation consisting of a fieldstone foundation at the west gable wall and fieldstone corner piers infilled with poured concrete at the front and rear elevations, and a side-gable slate roof. The enclosed rear stairway has a concrete block foundation. To the right of this at the first story of the rear gable wall is a small wood staircase and landing. These projections from the basic T-shaped footprint are offset by the deeply recessed front entry porch and the open belfry.

The Colonial-Revival front entry porch has a beadboard ceiling, and square pilasters at the front corners adjacent to Tuscan columns, beneath a molded pediment. Leading to the lobby at the rear of the porch is a double-leaf painted wood door; each leaf has a large vertical light over a horizontal inset panel. Leading to the library in the southeast corner of the church is a single-leaf wood door with three lower vertical inset panels and an upper frosted square light. Leading to the porch are concrete steps with wrought-iron railings. The belfry has short Tuscan columns under a molded cornice, and a beadboard ceiling. The large cast iron 33" bell has a timber frame support structure.

The wood shingled walls have a molded watertable and high molded beltcourse between the first and second story. However, the shingled wall surfaces remain uninterrupted horizontally as there are no cornerboards. Above the watertable and beltcourse are flared aprons. These features (beltcourse and flared aprons) also wrap around the front tower. The tower's second story bank of windows has a matching molded cornice beneath a flared apron. The projection between the main block and rear tower was originally a porch and is now completely enclosed with wood shingles that match the rest of the church. The original clipped-corner opening is visible from the interior of the porch, where plywood blocks the opening.

The roof of the church has a thin molded gable rakes, cornices and cornice returns. The cornice continues across the west gable wall, creating a pediment at the attic level of the west elevation (where it is not concealed by the shallow projection). The molded beltcourse wraps around one-story projection as its roof cornice.

There is a variety of window types and arrangements. Centered above the front entry is a tripartite of six-over-six windows that meet the roof cornice and have a molded sill and thin casings. To the left of this is a twelve-over-twelve window that meets the beltcourse and roof cornice and has thin casings. Just around the corner on the west gable wall is a matching window. These windows mark the location of the main interior staircase. Directly above the tripartite of windows mentioned above, in the front dormer, is a Palladian window. It has a center arched window with twelve traditional panes under pointed-arch panes. The center window is flanked by six-pane windows. The molded arch has a small keystone and the side windows have bold entablatures. The first and second stories of the front tower each have tripartite of six-over-six windows with molded sills and think casings. The first story windows meet the beltcourse.

The first story of the east gable wall of the church has an individual six-over-six window to the left of a tripartite of matching six-over-six windows with molded sills. These windows all meet the beltcourse and have thin casings and match the windows in the tower. Above the individual window is a matching six-over-six window with a bold entablature under a flared wood shingle hood. Above the tripartite of windows is a Palladian stained-glass window. It has an arched center section with a keystone, vertical side windows with bold entablatures, and a molded sill. The stained glass panels are on the east wall of the sanctuary, and represent "the Holy Ghost descending upon the Savior in the form of a dove." The gable has a tripartite of nine-pane fixed windows with a molded wood sill and thin casings. The wood shingle wall flares slightly above this bank of windows. The west gable wall has a matching bank of windows in its gable.

The shallow projection at the west gable wall has a stained-glass Palladian window with exterior features that match the Palladian window on the opposite wall, and it also lights the Sanctuary. The stained glass panels contain a cross and a crown. Beneath this window at the first story are two six-over-six windows; the outer edge of the pair lines up vertically with the outer edges of the Palladian window. These windows meet the beltcourse and have thin casings and match the rest of the six-over-six windows of the main block. At the left end of the projection is the ghost of a narrow exterior chimney.

The second story of the east and west elevations of the rear ell each have a tripartite of square stained glass windows that light the sanctuary. The molded wood sill meets the roof of the projecting first story of the east elevation and both banks of windows meet the roof cornice. The first story of the west elevation of the rear ell has a six-over-six window. Its left edge lines up vertically with the left edge of the bank of windows above. Like the rest of the six-over-six windows of the main block, it meets the beltcourse and has thin casings.

The gable wall of the rear ell has an entry door adjacent to paired six-over-six windows to the left of an individual six-over-six window. These windows all meet the beltcourse and have thin casings and match the rest of the windows. The doorway contains a modern wood door with three lower horizontal panels and a four-pane upper vertical light. It leads to the exterior wood stairway. The gable contains a Palladian window with exterior features that match the other stained glass Palladian windows. This window is above the pulpit and depicts Christ speaking with Mary and Martha. The door/window combination lines up vertically with the Palladian window above, and the wall surface between the two sets of openings projects slightly. The end wall of the adjacent enclosed staircase contains a door that matches the rear door.

The front (south) elevation of the one-story projection has a six-over-six window to the left of a wide wood door with two lower vertical panels and a nine-pane upper light. The window matches the windows of the main block. The rear tower contains a vertical stained glass window in its northeast face.

The church is a mature example of the Shingle Style. Features of this style that occur on the church include the Queen Anne asymmetrical massing, cross-gable roof, powerful abstract forms such as the large gables, large corner towers that evoke lighthouses, continuous skin of shingled exterior walls with flared aprons and window hoods, contrasting projecting and recessed surfaces such as the towers contrasting with the recessed front entry porch, thin moldings so as not to interrupt the flowing shingled surfaces, and Colonial Revival details such as the pedimented entry porch with Tuscan columns, the colonnaded belfry, Palladian windows, the tall beltcourse, and the cornice returns.

The first story of the church includes a lobby, vestry, library, kitchen, pantry, office, bathrooms, and stairway. The second story of the church includes the sanctuary and the Ladies Parlor. The stairway, lobby and library are at the front of the church, and the library extends into the tower. The stairway is in the southwest corner of the main block and the office is in the one-story projection. The pantry is in the northwest corner of the rear ell, and the kitchen extends between the lobby and pantry. The vestry is located in the northeast corner of the main block and east side of the rear ell. There are also two small bathrooms in the first story of the rear tower. The Ladies Parlor is in the southeast corner and extends into the tower. The sanctuary is in the rear half of the main block and all of the rear ell. It has a vaulted ceiling, creating a two-level attic space. The attic is unfinished.

The lobby has modern wall-to-wall carpeting, wood wainscoting with a molded cap, plaster walls, and molded architrave door casings. The front wall has beadboard wainscoting and the rest of the walls have 3" wide vertical board wainscoting. There are doorways to the office, kitchen, the cellar stairway, and the vestry. The cellar stairway is adjacent to the main stairway and projects slightly into the lobby. All the doors are wide and have four horizontal inset panels. The office door has a horizontal light instead of the third panel. The kitchen door has been converted to a Dutch door, and the doorway to the vestry is double-leaf. There is also a square chamfered column supporting the upper run of the main stairway. All of these wood features are painted. The stairway has a square newel post with inset panels and a railing consisting of 3" vertical board wainscoting under 9" high balusters that support a molded railing. The outer walls of the stairway have matching wainscoting with a molded cap. The newel post and molded railing are varnished and the rest of the wood elements are painted. The staircase is covered with modern carpeting.

The library has narrow-board hardwood flooring, beadboard/vertical board walls, and a beadboard ceiling with molded oak beams in a wheel-spoke pattern. The doors and windows have molded architrave casings. In the northwest corner of the room is an "Aldine patent" fireplace with an oak Eastlake-style mantel on a chimney-piece that has a horizontal mirror flanked by vertical panels beneath a small shelf. Above the mantel is an engraved wood plaque that reads "Memoriam, Florence Harding Gill." In the northeast corner are built-in wood shelves.

The office has modern wall-to-wall carpeting, 3" horizontal board walls, and a suspended tile ceiling. The kitchen has linoleum flooring, plaster walls with a molded chair rail, and molded architrave door and window casings, except for the doorway to the pantry, which has flat-stock casings. There is a pair of swinging four-panel doors to the vestry as well as a horizontal pass-through window. The kitchen cabinets appear to date to the 1950s or 1960s. The pantry has linoleum flooring, plaster walls, and molded architrave door and window casings, except the door to the kitchen, which has flat-stock casings. There is a four-panel door to the community room as well as a pass-through window. The pantry cabinets appear to date to the 1930s.

The vestry has linoleum flooring, plaster walls with a molded chair rail, and molded architrave window and door casings, except for the rear exterior door, which has flat-stock casings. Chamfered square columns with molded bases and capitals support the beam that runs down the center of the room. A doorway leads to the former exterior porch; it has a double-leaf five-panel door with inset panels. This porch is now used for storage. Off the northeast corner of the vestry is a small vestibule that leads to two small bathrooms in the tower. One bathroom has a four-panel door with molded architrave casings and the other has a two-panel door with flat-stock casings. The vestibule and bathrooms have narrow-board painted hardwood floors and modern fixtures. All of the four-panel doors on the first floor have Eastlake-style lock plates and round metal doorknobs.

The open stairway between the lobby and the second story has a mid-level landing and an upper landing that is also a hallway leading to the sanctuary and Ladies Parlor. The doorway to the sanctuary faces the stairway and has a wide double-leaf door with four inset molded panels. The doorway to the Ladies Parlor is adjacent to the staircase and has a narrower double-leaf door with four inset molded panels. The exterior wall of the upper hallway has 3" vertical board wainscoting with a molded chair rail.

The sanctuary has a modified square plan and a vaulted ceiling that reflects the cross-gable roof above where the main block meets the rear ell. The ceiling is "supported" by hammer beams resting on square pilasters. The beams meet at small scrolled brackets and drop finials. The sanctuary has a narrow-board hardwood floor, molded baseboard, and plaster walls and ceilings. A pair of wide doorways leads to the Ladies Parlor at the rear of the sanctuary. They each have a double-leaf door that matches the door between the hallway and sanctuary. The sanctuary has molded architrave door and window casings and sills. The side lights of the Palladian windows have molded cornices and keystones at the arch. All of the wood elements of the sanctuary are painted.

The raised altar spans most of the north end of the sanctuary and contains a choir loft, pipe organ, and pulpit. The altar has modern wall-to-wall carpeting, and the choir loft has a molded wood railing with turned balusters and square paneled newel posts. Behind the pulpit and between the high Palladian window and chair rail, the wall is decorated with a horizontal panel flanked by vertical panels. The panels are divided by chamfered pilasters with molded bases and capitals. Above each panel is a shallow horizontal panel divided by scrolled brackets.

The oak pews are curved, forming a semicircle, and have decorative end panels, molded bases, scrolled armrests, and a molded cap. The end panels have a blind molded fanlight over a blind double pier arch. The upper scroll of the seat back has an embossed rose window pattern. The pews are painted except for the varnished bases, armrests, and caps.

The pipe organ is located in the northwest corner of the sanctuary behind the choir loft and has paneled wood screen beneath the exposed pipes. The front face of this screen has vertical panels with a molded cap. Spanning most of this wall above the cap, the screen rises to the height of the adjacent west gable wall and also has vertical panels. The other side of the organ assembly, which faces the pulpit, has a built-in organ keyboard beneath a screen of square panels.

A doorway at the northeast corner of the sanctuary leads to the rear tower. The doorway has a four-panel door. The interior of the tower leads to the modern rear staircase. This staircase is unfinished.

The Ladies Parlor has modern wall-to-wall carpeting, plaster walls, molded baseboards, and molded architrave door and window casings and sills. Above the doorway to the hallway is an bold entablature. To the left of this doorway is a square chamfered pilaster with a molded base and capital. On the wall shared with the sanctuary there is a projecting fireplace with a marble chimney face and hearth surrounded by a large wood chimneypiece that wraps around the side walls of the chimney. The chimneypiece consists of a paneled dado with tall vertical inset panels beneath shorter vertical inset panels, and a molded cornice. The molded mantel is supported by thin Tuscan columns. All of the wood elements in this room are made of painted oak.

The Congregational Church of Ludlow was constructed on an empty lot in an already densely-settled neighborhood. Construction of the church began in the Fall of 1891 and it was completed in April 1892.

A newspaper article printed May 5, 1892, the day the church was dedicated, provides a description of the building:

The exterior remains very much the same as it was then, except for the roof material, porte-cochere, two side (east) entrances, chimneys, and front steps. Alterations to the exterior of the church began in 1948, when the walls were reshingled and the rear enclosed stairway was constructed. Until 1949, the one-story west projection was a porte-cochere. The gable end of the extant roof and cornice was supported by paired Tuscan columns resting on a stone base. Under the porte cochere, adjacent to the church, there was a stone landing leading to a set of steps that projected forward from the structure. At the outer corners of the landing were single Tuscan columns. The porte cochere was enclosed in 1949 to create a coat and storage room. This is probably when the beadboard walls were installed. In 1971, the room was converted to an office. This is probably when the tile ceiling and carpeting were installed. It is possible the extant exterior door and window were originally under the porte-cochere, leading to the interior of the main block.

The original chimney was in the same location and had the same dimensions as the extant chimney but was replaced twice, the second time in 1966. There was a small kitchen chimney at the left end of the west elevation of the main block. It was removed at an unknown time. It is difficult to determine the material of original front steps, but it is apparent there were short cheek walls. In 1958, the steps were replaced with the extant concrete steps with metal railings.

At the east elevation of the main block, near the front tower, where there is now an individual window, there was originally an entry to the library. It had a segmental-arch hood supported by large scrolled vertical brackets, and a door with lower vertical panels and vertical stained glass window. A small landing had a balustered railing and there were wood steps leading to grade. This doorway was converted to a window at an unknown time before 1973, when the east elevation appears in a photograph of this date. The window appears to be contemporaneous with the rest of the windows, so it may have been removed from the pantry and installed in this location, as there appears to be a missing window on the west pantry wall.

The roofs were originally wood shingle (a feature of the Shingle Style), not slate. The slate roof may actually be fairly recent, as the 1973 Vermont Historic Sites and Structures Survey form for the church lists the roof material as wood shingle.

The porch between the main block and rear tower was enclosed fairly recently as it appears in its original condition in a 1992 photograph. Most of the front of the porch was open and the shingled opening had angled corners. The porch had a railing that matched that of the former library door, and a centered wood staircase with a railing.

The interior of the church is also very intact. The floor plan remains intact, and the vestry is now called the community room. A toilet room was installed in the tower in 1906, and was converted to two small bathrooms in 1947. This explains the different door types to each bathroom.

All significant interior features remain intact, except for the wood features, which were all originally varnished, and were painted in the 1940s, and the wood flooring, which has been covered with synthetic flooring or carpeting in most places. The lobby, main stairway and second story hallway were covered in "plastic" tiles in 1958. The stairhall and second story hallway were carpeted in 1971. An 1892 photo reveals that the Ladies Parlor had a faux finish ceiling to mimic cross beams and large center medallion, a matching faux finish chair rail, and the walls had a stenciled frieze. Another historic photo reveals that the ceiling of the sanctuary had bands of stenciling below large "panels" framed with a floral design. The empty panels behind the pulpit were originally infilled with beadboard; vertical in the center and diagonal on the sides.

In addition, the door between the library and lobby was closed up at an unknown time. The three inch wide wainscoting and full-height wall sheathing in the lobby and library appear to date to the mid twentieth-century.

A large horse barn was constructed contemporaneously with the church. It stood northwest of the church and had a long rectangular footprint oriented parallel to Elm Street. The barn survived until 1961, when the extant two-bay garage was constructed in its location.

There are no threats to the integrity to the church and it is well-maintained. In fact, the church is currently undergoing a comprehensive rehabilitation that is in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.