Category: Churches

Hancock United Church of Christ (1893)

by Dan//Churches, Craftsman, Lexington, Queen Anne, Shingle Style

Hancock Church

In 1819, the First Congregational Society of Lexington became Unitarian. The minority of Trinitarian Congregationalists attended the local Baptist church for a time, but in 1868 formed the Hancock Congregational Society. The Congregation occupied the old Lexington Academy building until 1893, when the current Hancock Congregational Church was built. The church, designed by Paine and Lewis, features both Shingle Style siding and fieldstone walls. Many additions have been made over the years, including a new stuccoed wing in 1951.

First Parish in Wayland (1814)

by Dan//Churches, Federal, Wayland

First Parish Church in Wayland

Sudbury was first settled in 1640 and successive meeting houses for the community were built, east of the Sudbury River, in 1642, 1652, 1682 and 1725. In 1780, the section of town west of the river separated from the eastern section, which was at first called East Sudbury and, from 1835, Wayland. The 1725 meeting house was replaced, in 1814-1815, by the current Federal-style church, built by Andrew Palmer of Newburyport to a design by Asher Benjamin. The church bell was cast by the foundry of Paul Revere and Son. The church became Unitarian in 1825, during the ministry of Reverend John Burt Wight. In 1850, the interior of the church was altered to to create a two-story plan, with an auditorium on the second floor. While he was minister at First Parish in Wayland, Reverend Edmund Hamilton Sears composed the Christmas hymn, “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.”

North Congregational Church, Springfield (1873)

by Dan//Churches, Romanesque Revival, Springfield

Hispanic Baptist Church

In 1868, H.H. Richardson won a commission to design the North Congregational Church in Springfield. Originally intended to be built where the congregation’s preceding church building was located, the plans for construction did not go through until a new site had been purchased, on the corner of Salem and Mattoon Streets in 1871, and the initial plan had been revised. Built in 1872 to 1873, the church was constructed of red Longmeadow sandstone and was one of Richardson‘s first works in the Romanesque style. The North Congregational Society disbanded in 1935 and the church was sold and renamed Grace Baptist Church. It is now called the Hispanic Baptist Church. UPDATE: The church was later called the Cristian Biblical Church and then Iglesia Apostolica Renovacion. The building was for sale in 2019.

First Church of Christ in Longmeadow (1768)

by Dan//Churches, Colonial Revival, Longmeadow

First Church Longmeadow

Where today there is a flagpole on Longmeadow Green, the town’s first church, built in 1716, once stood. By 1764 it was decided that, owing to the great number of repairs the building needed, a new church should be constructed. It was built on the Green in 1767-1768 and in 1769, the old meeting house was torn down. The new church was remodeled in 1828 and in 1874 it went through even more drastic changes, being moved from the Green to its present site and again being remodeled. The First Church of Christ‘s white pillared front portico was added in 1932, modeled on Boston’s Arlington Street Church.

First Parish Church in Sudbury (1797)

by Dan//Churches, Federal, Sudbury

First Parish Church in Sudbury

The first religious services in the Parish of Sudbury took place in 1640, east of the Sudbury River in what is now Wayland. The congregation west of the river completed their own meeting house in 1722 and Rev. Israel Loring became their first minister. The current First Parish Church in Sudbury replaced the original structure on the same location in 1797. In 1837, the rise of the Unitarian movement split the congregation and the First Parish became a Unitarian church. According to the History of Sudbury (1889), by Alfred Sereno Hudson,

For a time the old society had different preachers to supply the pulpit. From March 30 to September 22, according to a record book of Capt. Israel Haynes, no less than twelve different ministers preached there. In the summer of 1841, Rev. Linus Shaw was invited to preach, which he did till fall. Soon after, the meeting-house was remodelled, and in 1844, he was invited to preach there again ; he did so, and the result was his settlement as pastor. He was installed June 5, 1845, and continued in the pastorate till his death.

St. John’s Chapel, Cambridge (1868)

by Dan//Cambridge, Churches, Gothic

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Founded in 1867, the Episcopal Theological School (now the Episcopal Divinity School) hired the architectural firm of Ware and Van Brunt to design their campus on Brattle Street in Cambridge. The first building to be constructed was St. John’s Chapel. Modeled on an English parish church, it was built in 1868-1869. The chapel’s tower is constructed of Roxbury puddingstone. The original side entrance was joined by a new main entrance on the end, added in the 1960s.

Union Meeting House, Storrowton (1834)

by Dan//Churches, Federal, West Springfield

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Now part of the collection of historic buildings that make up Storrowton Village at the Eastern States Exposition grounds in West Springfield, the Union Meetinghouse was originally built jointly by four religious denominations in Salisbury, New Hampshire, in 1834. The Meeting House was moved from the Smith’s Corner neighborhood of Salisbury to Storrowton in 1929. The pulpit came from another New Hampshire town and the 1851 bell is from a church in Neponset, Massachusetts.