First Church of Christ, Scientist - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Mother Church

In Christianity, the term mother church or Mother Church may have one of the following meanings:# The first mission church in an area, or a pioneer cathedral# A basilica or cathedral# The main chapel of a province of a religious order...

and administrative headquarters of the Christian Science Church

Church of Christ, Scientist

The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, by Mary Baker Eddy. She was the author of the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Christian Science teaches that the "allness" of God denies the reality of sin, sickness, death, and the material world...

, and is located in the Christian Science Center in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. Surrounding a plaza and built over many years beginning in 1894, it consists of seven structures: the Original Mother Church, Mother Church Extension, Christian Science Publishing House, Mary Baker Eddy Library, 177 Huntington Avenue (former Administration Building), 101 Belvidere (former Church Colonnade Building), and the Sunday School Building.

The Original Mother Church edifice, designed by Franklin I. Welch, was built in 1894. Although fairly large for the time, this Romanesque Revival

Romanesque Revival architecture

Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...

stone structure is often overlooked by casual visitors as it is dwarfed by the much larger domed Mother Church Extension. Designed to fit on an odd kite-shaped lot, it features an octagonal auditorium that seats 1100 people and a massive 126-foot (38 m) steeple. It is built of granite from New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

, Mary Baker Eddy

Mary Baker Eddy

Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of Christian Science , a Protestant American system of religious thought and practice religion adopted by the Church of Christ, Scientist, and others...

's home state.
Added in 1904-1906, the Mother Church Extension was originally designed by architect Charles Brigham

Charles Brigham

Charles Brigham , was a prominent American architect.- Life :Born, raised, and educated in Watertown, Massachusetts, he apprenticed to the Boston architect Gridley J.F. Bryant. Brigham served as a sergeant in the Union Army during the American Civil War, then began work for John Hubbard Sturgis...

, but substantially modified by S.S. Beman

Solon Spencer Beman

Solon Spencer Beman was an American architect who was based in Chicago, best known as the architect of the planned Pullman community and adjacent Pullman Company factory complex. Several of his other largest commissions, including the Pullman Office Building, Pabst Building, and Grand Central...

when he took over construction in 1905 as a result of Brigham's illness. In particular, Beman minimized the Ottoman and Byzantine

Byzantine architecture

Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...

elements, bringing the domed structure into line with the Classical architectural style

Classical architecture

Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...

that Beman favored as most appropriate for Christian Science churches. It boasts one of the world's largest pipe organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

s, built in 1952 by the Aeolian-Skinner Company

Aeolian-Skinner

Æolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc. — Æolian-Skinner of Boston, Massachusetts was an important American builder of a large number of notable pipe organs from its inception as the Skinner Organ Company in 1901 until its closure in 1972. Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner , Arthur Hudson Marks ,...

of Boston.

The Mary Baker Eddy Library is housed in an 11-story structure originally finished in 1934 for the Christian Science Publishing Society.

Designed in the 1960s by the firm of noted architect I.M. Pei, the 14 acres (56,656 m²) Christian Science Plaza along Huntington Avenue

Huntington Avenue (Boston)

Huntington Avenue is a secondary thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts beginning at Copley Square, and continuing west through the Back Bay, Fenway, Longwood, and Mission Hill neighborhoods...

includes a large administration building, a colonnade

Colonnade

In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....

, a reflecting pool

Reflecting pool

A reflecting pool or reflection pool is a water feature found in gardens, parks, and at memorial sites. It usually consists of a shallow pool of water, undisturbed by fountain jets, for a calm reflective...

and fountain

Fountain

A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....

that together make it one of Boston's most visually recognizable sites and a popular tourist attraction. Another draw for tourists is the three-story tall Mapparium

Mapparium

The Mapparium is a three-story tall glass globe of stained glass that is viewed from a bridge through its interior. It is a unique exhibit at the Christian Science Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts....

, a stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

globe

Globe

A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon...

that visitors view from the inside and The Apiary installation by glass artist Dale Chihuly

Dale Chihuly

Dale Chihuly is an American glass sculptor and entrepreneur.-Biography:Chihuly graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Tacoma, Washington. He enrolled at the College of the Puget Sound in 1959...

.

In accord with the Manual of The Mother Church

Manual of The Mother Church

The Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy is the governing document, or in effect constitution, of the Christian Science Church.The "Church Manual" or "Manual" went through 88 revisions during Eddy's lifetime. The 89th edition incorporates revisions said to be in process prior to Eddy's...

, the title of the Mother Church is "The First Church of Christ, Scientist," and while its branch churches may call themselves, "First Church of Christ, Scientist," or "Second Church of Christ, Scientist," and so on, they are prohibited from using "The" in front of their names. Only The Mother Church can do so.

External links

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