Category: Churches

Old West Church, Boston (1806)

by Dan//Boston, Churches, Federal

The original Old West Church in Boston was a wood-frame building, built in 1737. It was used as barracks by British soldiers during the occupation of Boston, but they soon razed the structure in 1775 due to concerns that supporters of the Revolution were sending signals to Cambridge from its steeple. The church was finally rebuilt in 1806. It was designed by Asher Benjamin and has similarities to his earlier Charles Street Meeting House of 1804. Originally a Congregationalist church, Old West Church was deeded to the City of Boston in 1894 to serve as the West End Library. The church remained a library until 1962, when a new library was built. Since 1964, Old West Church has been home to a Methodist congregation.

Wesley United Methodist Church, Salem (1888)

by Dan//Churches, Romanesque Revival, Salem

Wesley United Methodist Church, at 8 North Street in Salem, was designed by Lawrence B. Valk of New York and was constructed in 1888-1889. The local Salem contractors were J.F. Farrin, Joseph N. Parsons, and Joseph N. Peterson. As explained in the Visitor’s Guide to Salem of 1892, at that time Salem had two Methodist churches. One, the

“Lafayette St. Methodist Episcopal Church, at the corner of Harbor street, was built and dedicated in 1853. This society had previously occupied a smaller house of worship on Sewall street, which was again occupied in 1872, as Wesley Chapel, by members who withdrew from the Lafayette St. Society, and who, largely augmented in numbers, re-organized as […] The Wesley Church and, in 1888, erected the large brick and stone church edifice on North street a few doors from Essex. In construction this is quite different from any other church building in the city. By means of sliding doors, the seating capacity can be much increased by connecting the Sunday school rooms, which are on the street end of the building, with the large audience room. The windows of the church being of stained glass present a most beautiful appearance in the evening when services are being held, the brightly lighted interior reflecting attractively through the large gothic memorial window on North street.

The Lafayette Street United Methodist Church moved to a new building at 292 Lafayette Street in 1910 and in 1994 merged with the Wesley United Methodist Church. Since 2007, the Lafayette Street church building has been the First Baptist Church of Salem.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead (1911)

by Dan//Churches, Colonial Revival, Marblehead

In 1716, parishioners of Marblehead’s Congregational Church who favored the liberal minister, Rev. Edward Holyoke, broke away to form the town’s Second Congregational Church. A church was soon built on New Meetinghouse Lane, now called Mugford Street. The church embraced Unitarianism in 1820, under the leadership of Rev. John Bartlett. A new church was built in 1831-1832, but it was destroyed in a fire in 1910. The current gambrel-roofed Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead was built in 1911 and was expanded to the rear in the 1960s, after the ancient graves immediately behind the church had been moved to new locations in the old graveyard.

First Church in Cambridge (1871)

by Dan//Cambridge, Churches, Gothic

Merry Christmas from Historic Buildings of Massachusetts!!! Today, Let’s look at a church with a long history. The current church, or meeting house, of the First Church in Cambridge, is the congregation’s sixth and was built in 1871. The first meeting house was built in 1632 at Mount Auburn and Dunster Streets. This congregation eventually left for Hartford, Connecticut under Rev. Thomas Hooker and a new congregation was gathered in Cambridge in 1636. A second meeting house was built in 1650 in the center of Harvard Square and was replaced by the third, at the same location, in 1706. The fourth was built at the corner of Church Street and Massachusetts Avenue in 1757 and was used until 1829, when there was a split in the congregation between Congregationalists and Unitarians. The Congregationalists, taking the name of the Shepard Congregational Society, built their own separate fifth meeting house (the Shepard Memorial Church), at Mount Auburn and Holyoke Streets in 1831. Outgrowing this, they built the current church, at Garden and Mason Streets, in 1872. In 1899, the two churches agreed to be separately known as the First Church in Cambridge (Congregational) and the First Church in Cambridge (Unitarian), now called the First Parish Cambridge. In the 1920s, a Parish House with a chapel, offices, classrooms and meeting halls were added to the Congregational Church. The church has a brass cockerel weathervane, which was made by famed coppersmith Shem Drowne in 1821 for the New Brick Church, known as the Cockerel Church, on Hanover Street, Boston and was purchased for the Cambridge church in 1873. Continue reading “First Church in Cambridge (1871)”

Old North Congregational Church, Marblehead (1825)

by Dan//Churches, Federal, Marblehead

Marblehead’s first meeting house was built in 1648, when the town was still part of Salem. In 1684, the church in Marblehead became separate from the First Church in Salem. In 1695, the original wood meeting house on Old Burial Hill was replaced by a new building on Franklin Street. A lot was purchased on Washington Street in 1821 and the current stone church building was constructed in 1824-1825. It is known as Old North Congregational Church because a separate second congregation was later formed to the south. The church originally had brown ashlar walls on all four sides, but the granite front facade was added later. The church has a golden cod weather vane. In 1969, the church’s silver, including a baptismal bowl made by Paul Revere, was stolen and eventually returned upon payment of ransom money.

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Salem (1833)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Salem

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Salem was established in 1733 and a wooden church was built the following year on land donated by Philip English, a wealthy merchant. English and his wife, Mary, had been accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. The original church was taken down in 1833 and replaced by the present stone church, constructed from plans by Isaiah Rogers of Boston. Like Salem’s First Church, it is a highly regarded example of a Gothic Revival stone masonry church of the early nineteenth century. It was enlarged in 1845 and a new chapel was added in 1871, built directly over the parish’s old graveyard. Some of the tombstones were incorporated into the chapel’s walls.

First Church in Salem (1836)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Salem

The First Church in Salem, gathered in 1629, is the oldest church in North America to be continuously governed by congregationalist polity. Until 1923, the First Church congregation used four successive buildings on the same location on Washington Street (the last, built in 1826, is now the Daniel Low Building). The congregation became Unitarian early in the nineteenth century. The congregation split into other churches over the years, most of which later merged again with First Church. East Church was established in 1718 and Barton Square Church in 1824. These two merged in 1899 to form Second Church and reunited with First Church in 1923. The former East/North Church building of 1844-1846 is now the Salem Witch Museum. North Church split from First Church in 1772. Its first meeting house, on the corner of North and Lynde Streets, was used from 1772 to 1836. The second meetinghouse, on Essex Street, was begun in 1835 and completed in 1836. It is made of Quincy granite and is considered an outstanding example of a Gothic Revival stone masonry church. Since North Church reunited with First Church in 1923, the united congregation has used the old North Church building. Continue reading “First Church in Salem (1836)”