For the past couple of months we’ve looked at fun architecture – octagon houses, geodesic domes, diners, cobblestone buildings, railroad stations and more – and where you can find some interesting ones within a reasonable drive. This week we look at that ubiquitous feature of the landscape in western culture – churches.

“Where there is a church, there is civilization,” says Lord Peter Wimsey in The Nine Tailors. But they’re so commonplace that unless you’re specifically interested, you probably pass on by without noticing.

Some, though, cry out to be noticed. Arch Merrill called Bath “the grande dame of the Southern Tier,” and two monumental 19th-century churches buttress that title.

ST. THOMAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH (122 Liberty) has the oldest edifice (1869) among the Bath village churches. The massive stonework construction, the towering needle of the spire, the dramatic slope of the roofs all seize the eye. Stained-glass windows and Renaissance paintings contribute to the experience of the main worship space, which seats 500 people.

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (6 East Morris) has a similarly massive edifice of native stone, erected in 1877. Apparently the idea at one time was to have two steeples, but the asymmetrical arrangement of a steeple and a turret works even better. With the green park of Pulteney Square in front and looming cliffs behind, 1st Presbyterian has an arresting setting. The church is also justly famed for its INTERIOR, and its sanctuary designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany… check for drop-in tours on summer Wednesdays. Both churches are on the National Register of Historic Places, and on the Bath random-access tour; look for small signs with QR codes out front.

Across from the Episcopal church, CENTENARY METHODIST (3 West Washington) has a 1970s sanctuary of decidedly modern design, with huge abstract stained-glass windows. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH of Hornell (28 Church Street) also has a very modern design for its 1963 sanctuary, linked with a much older facility.

While First Baptist and Centenary Methodist emphasize angularity, ST. JANUARIUS CATHOLIC CHURCH in Naples (180 North Main) emphasizes curves, flow, and organics. The roof swoops like a wave at sea, while curved concrete walls are pierced with colored randomly-set oval windows, letting in the light while suggesting the grapes whose vines surround the church. It’s a brilliant modern jewel on the historic mantle of Naples.

Two churches have been mentioned in earlier blogs, but warrant a second look. The jewel-box Episcopal CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD in Savona (33 Church Street), with its fieldstone base and broad shingled front, is impressive from any angle. And GARRETT CHAPEL on Keuka Bluff (5251 Skyline Drive) is an exquisite stone structure in a sylvan setting overlooking the lake.

What about your good old-fashioned New England-style country church (probably painted white)? Most any country drive will take you past a smorgasbord of them. We’ll mention TOWN LINE CHURCH, (8343 Steuben County Road 119) with its old-fashioned double front doors (left over from the Puritans, who linked central aisles with Catholicism). Town Line has lost its steeple over time, which makes a pair with the former HARRISBURG HOLLOW METHODIST, (Robbins Road and Harrisburg Hollow Road) which has kept its steeple but lost its church! Community members lovingly tend the steeple, which was just recently refurbished, and now stands Narnia-like in the hills between Bath and Wheeler.