place

First Church of Christ, Scientist (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Christian Science churches in MassachusettsChurch buildings with domesLandmarks in Cambridge, MassachusettsNeoclassical architecture in Massachusetts
First Church of Christ, Scientist Cambridge, Massachusetts
First Church of Christ, Scientist Cambridge, Massachusetts

First Church of Christ, Scientist is an historic redbrick 6-story domed Christian Science church building located at 13 Waterhouse Street, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was designed in 1917 by church member Giles M. Smith of the noted Boston architectural firm of Bigelow and Wadsworth (later Bigelow, Wadsworth, Hubbard and Smith), who patterned it after Thomas Jefferson's The Rotunda at the University of Virginia and the Pantheon in Rome. Due to cost constraints it was built in two phases between 1924 and 1930. The basement and ground floor levels topped by a belt course comprised the first phase, while the additional four stories and the massive dome comprised the second and final phase. The dome itself was designed and built by the noted Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company, which in 1898 had done the reconstruction of the dome in The Rotunda at UVA and the construction in 1906 of the dome of the Mother Church Extension in Boston. Guastavino used its patented tile arch system consisting of Akoustolith, a porous ceramic material resembling stone, on the interior, with limestone on the exterior. The tile was manufactured at its plant in nearby Woburn. In 1933 copper flashing was added to the exterior of the dome in order correct a leakage problem. An oculus provided light to the interior. The first services in the completed building were held on April 30, 1930, and after becoming debt free, it was dedicated on May 23, 1937.First Church of Christ, Scientist is still located in the building, and is still an active branch of the Christian Science Mother Church.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article First Church of Christ, Scientist (Cambridge, Massachusetts) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

First Church of Christ, Scientist (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Follen Street, Cambridge

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address External links Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: First Church of Christ, Scientist (Cambridge, Massachusetts)Continue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.37845 ° E -71.120877777778 °
placeShow on map

Address

First Church of Christ Scientist

Follen Street
02163 Cambridge
Massachusetts, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

linkWikiData (Q5452670)
linkOpenStreetMap (358276915)

First Church of Christ, Scientist Cambridge, Massachusetts
First Church of Christ, Scientist Cambridge, Massachusetts
Share experience

Nearby Places

Cambridge Common Historic District
Cambridge Common Historic District

The Cambridge Common Historic District is a historic district encompassing one of the oldest parts of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is centered on the Cambridge Common, which was a center of civic activity in Cambridge after its founding in 1631. It was the site of the election for governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636, and was a military barracks site during the American Revolutionary War. The common was gradually reduced in size to its present roughly triangular shape, and surrounded by buildings in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1973 a historic district encompassing the extant common and everything within 100 feet (30 m) of it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1987 the district was amended to rationalize the boundary, which overlapped adjacent districts and included portions of some buildings.The district now includes properties across Waterhouse Street to the west of the common, including the Christian Science Church, a Classical Revival structure, the brick apartment houses along and the 1753 Georgian Frost-Waterhouse House, the oldest building in the district. To the north, across Massachusetts Avenue, the district includes Hemenway Gymnasium, Hastings Hall, Gannet House, and the Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church. On the south side, across Garden Street, lie the Old Burying Ground, The First Parish in Cambridge, Christ Church (a National Historic Landmark), and several houses.The 1987 amendment to the district also added a small cluster of residential properties on Farwell Street, a dead-end street that is connected to the district by a footpath adjacent to the Old Burying Ground. It represents a well-preserved collection of properties dating to the 18th and 19th centuries that harken back to the days when Harvard Square was primarily residential in character.