First Parish Church | |
Location | Waltham, Massachusetts |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°22′42″N71°14′7″W / 42.37833°N 71.23528°W |
Built | 1932 |
Architect | Allen & Collens |
Architectural style | Classical Revival |
MPS | Waltham MRA |
NRHP reference No. | 89001507 [1] |
Added to NRHP | September 28, 1989 |
The First Parish Church is a historic church at 50 Church Street in Waltham, Massachusetts, whose Unitarian Universalist congregation has a history dating to c. 1696. The current meeting house was built in 1933 after a fire destroyed the previous building (the congregation's third) on the same site. It is a Classical Revival structure designed by the nationally known Boston firm of Allen & Collens. [2] The church building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. [1]
The church is located at the northwest corner of School and Church Streets, one block north of Waltham's Central Square. It is a rectangular single-story structure, with a gable-roofed central section four bays wide that is flanked by flat-roof single-bay sections. A Classical Revival portico with fluted columns projects at the south-facing front facade, with the church tower set astride the transition between the projection and the main body. A school structure, added in 1957, is attached to the rear of the building. [2]
The First Parish congregation dates to about 1695, when the area was part of Watertown, and had grown sufficiently in population to merit a separate parish from the original 1630 congregation in Watertown. In 1720 the congregation acquired its first meetinghouse, moving a building from what is now Newton. Its second meetinghouse, located at Lyman and Beaver Streets, was built in 1767, and its third was built at this location in 1838. That building was destroyed by fire on August 24, 1932. The present church was built, partly on the foundations of the previous one, soon afterward. It was designed by the noted ecclesiastical architectural firm of Allen & Collens of Boston. [2]
Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, also known as New Old South Church or Third Church, is a historic United Church of Christ congregation first organized in 1669. Its present building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears, completed in 1873, and amplified by the architects Allen & Collens between 1935–1937. The church, which was built on newly filled land in the Back Bay section of Boston, is located at 645 Boylston Street on Copley Square. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 for its architectural significance as one of the finest High Victorian Gothic churches in New England. It is home to one of the oldest religious communities in the United States.
The Old Ship Church is a Puritan church built in 1681 in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in the United States. Its congregation, gathered in 1635 and officially known as First Parish in Hingham, occupies the oldest church building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the country. On October 9, 1960, it was designated a National Historic Landmark, and on November 15, 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The West Newton Village Center Historic District encompasses the heart of the village of West Newton, in the city of Newton, Massachusetts in the United States. It extends along Washington Street between Lucas Court in the west and Davis Court in the east, and includes a few properties on immediately adjacent side streets, including Watertown Street and Waltham Street. The village is the second-largest of Newton's commercial centers and is the best-preserved of its late 19th and early 20th century village centers. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The Second Church in Newton, United Church of Christ, is located at 60 Highland Street in West Newton, a village of Newton, Massachusetts. This church is rooted in the Congregational denomination, welcomes all visitors, and does not require uniformity of belief. Its present church building, a Gothic Victorian structure designed by architects Allen & Collens and completed in 1916, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The Newton City Hall and War Memorial is a historic city hall and war memorial building located in the village of Newton Centre in Newton, Massachusetts. Built in 1932 in the Colonial Revival style, the building was designed by Allen and Collens, with landscaping by the renowned Olmsted Brothers. The building's purpose was to serve as a new city hall, and as a memorial to the city's soldiers of the First World War. On February 16, 1990, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Universalist Society Meetinghouse is an historic Greek Revival meetinghouse at 3 River Road in Orleans, Massachusetts. Built in 1834, it was the only Universalist church built in Orleans, and is architecturally a well-preserved local example of Greek Revival architecture. The Meeting House is now the home of the Orleans Historical Society and is known as the Meeting House Museum. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford and The Osgood House are a historic Unitarian Universalist church building and parsonage house at 141 and 147 High Street in Medford, Massachusetts.
The First Trinitarian Congregational Church is a historic Congregational church at 381 Country Way in Scituate, Massachusetts; it is associated with the United Church of Christ. The Classical Revival church building was constructed in 1826 after its congregation had left the First Parish Church of Scituate when it became Unitarian in theology. The church building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
The Trinity Church, formerly the First Congregational Church, is a historic church in Waltham, Massachusetts. The present church building, an architecturally distinctive blend of Romanesque and Georgian Revival styling, was built in 1870 for a congregation established in 1820. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Complex is a historic multi-building church complex at 133 School Street in Waltham, Massachusetts. Established as a parish in 1835, it is the city's oldest Roman Catholic establishment. Its 1858 Romanesque Revival church and 1872 Second Empire rectory are particularly fine architectural examples of their styles. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Holbrook Square Historic District encompasses the historic institutional center of Holbrook, Massachusetts. It includes three buildings: the Gothic Revival town hall, built 1878-79, the Stick style Winthrop Congregational Church (1878–80), and the 1881 Central Fire Station. These three buildings are arrayed along Mary Wales Holbrook Park, aka Holbrook Square. The square is located north and west of the junction of North Franklin Street and Union Street. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
The Second Unitarian Church is a historic church and synagogue building at 11 Charles Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. Built in 1916 for a Unitarian congregation, it was acquired by the innovative Reform Jewish Temple Sinai congregation in 1944. It is a high quality example of Colonial Revival/Georgian Revival architecture, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The Congregational Church of Goffstown is a historic Congregational church building in the center of Goffstown, New Hampshire, United States. It is a member of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (CCCC).
The Francestown Meetinghouse is a historic meeting house on Route 136 in the center of Francestown, New Hampshire. The white clapboarded building was built c. 1801–03, and rebuilt in 1837, at which time it received its Greek Revival styling. It was used as a church until 1987, and for town meetings until 1833. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. It is now managed by a nonprofit as a community resource.
South Parish is the historic name of a church at 292 State Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the United States. The church building, built in 1824–26, is one of the earliest examples of Classical Revival architecture in New England, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Allen & Collens was an American architectural firm based in Boston. It was initially established by architect Francis R. Allen in 1879. After two early partnerships he formed Allen & Collens in 1903 with Charles Collens. The firm was best known as the designers of Gothic Revival buildings, including the Union Theological Seminary campus and Riverside Church in New York City. Allen and Collens died in 1931 and 1956, respectively, and the firm was continued by Collens' partner, Harold Buckley Willis, until his own death in 1962.
The Watertown Center Historic District encompasses the historic village center of Watertown, Connecticut. It exhibits architectural and historic changes from the early 1700s into the 20th century. It is roughly bounded by Main, Warren, North, Woodbury, Woodruff, and Academy Hill Roads, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The First Congregational Church of South Hadley is a historic church building at 1 Church Street in the center of South Hadley, Massachusetts. Completed in 1895, it is a prominent local example of Romanesque Revival architecture, designed by Henry J. Preston. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. The congregation, founded in 1733, is affiliated with the United Church of Christ.
Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church is a historic church building at 1859 Centre Street in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1900 to a design by West Roxbury native Henry M. Seaver, it is a locally significant example of Normanesque architecture, and is adorned by stained glass windows created by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his firm. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. The congregation it houses was founded in 1712, and is named for the influential Transcendentalist and abolitionist Theodore Parker, who was the congregation's minister in the 1840s.
The First Parish Church is a Norman Gothic style fieldstone church built in 1888 by Peabody & Stearns with landscaping by Charles Eliot. It is located on Boston Post Road in Weston, Massachusetts. The current structure is the fourth church built at this site for the First Parish of Weston.