Tremont Temple - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Tremont Temple on 88 Tremont Street

Tremont Street

Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts.-Etymology:The name is a variation of one of the original appellations of the city, "Trimountaine," a reference to a hill that formerly had three peaks. Beacon Hill, with its single peak, is all that remains of the Trimountain...

is a Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

church in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, USA. The existing structure opened in May 1896 and was designed by architect Clarence Blackall

Clarence Blackall

Clarence Howard Blackall was an American architect who is estimated to have designed 300 theatres.He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1857. He attended college at the University of Illinois School of Architecture, graduating with a B.S. in 1877, and received training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts...

History

On 28 December 1843, the Free Church Baptists bought the Tremont Theatre

Tremont Theatre, Boston

The Tremont Theatre on 88 Tremont Street was a playhouse in Boston. A group of wealthy Boston residents financed the building's construction. Architect Isaiah Rogers designed the original Theatre structure in 1827 in the Greek Revival style...

and renamed it the Tremont Temple. Although the building was largely used for religious events, it also served as the venue for public events on occasion. Sam Houston

Sam Houston

Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...

gave a speech there against slavery on 22 February 1855, and an Egyptian mummy

Mummy

A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...

was displayed there beginning on 28 September 1850. A fire in April 1852 demolished the building. At the time of the fire, occupants included music instructors, dentists, a taxidermist, and several artists: Benjamin Champney

Benjamin Champney

Benjamin Champney was a painter whose name has become synonymous with White Mountain art of the 19th century. He began his training as a lithographer under celebrated marine artist Fitz Henry Lane at Pendleton's Lithography shop in Boston...

, Mr. Kimberly, John C. King

John Crookshanks King

John Crookshanks King was a Scotland-born sculptor in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th-century. He created portraits of John Quincy Adams, Louis Agassiz, Robert Burns, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greeley, Walter Scott, Daniel Webster, Samuel B. Woodward and others. Around 1852 he kept a studio...

, B.F. Mason

Benjamin Franklin Mason

Benjamin Franklin Mason or B.F. Mason was an artist in New England in the mid-19th century. He worked in "Boston, Troy, Buffalo, ... Milwaukee," and Woodstock, Vermont. Around 1852 he kept a studio in Boston's Tremont Temple.-Further reading:* Arthur K D Healy. B.F...

, Wellman Morrison

Wellman Morrison

Wellman Morrison was an artist in Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-19th century. He painted landscapes and portraits; subjects included Charles Sumner. "He exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum in 1846, 1847, and 1856." Around 1852 he kept a studio in Boston's Tremont Temple.-Further reading:*...

, John Pope

John Pope (artist)

John Pope was an artist in Boston, Massachusetts, and New York in the 19th century. He created portraits of W.H. Prescott, Daniel Webster and others. He belonged to the Boston Artists' Association; and exhibited with the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association and the New England Art Union...

, and John W. A. Scott

John W. A. Scott

John White Allen Scott or John W.A. Scott was an artist in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. He worked for Pendleton's Lithography early in his career. In the 1840s he started a lithography business in partnership with Fitz Hugh Lane . Around 1852 he kept a studio in Boston's Tremont...

.

The temple suffered subsequent fires in 1879 and 1893. Called Tremont Street Baptist Church and later Union Temple Baptist Church, the name Tremont Temple Baptist Church was adopted in 1891. The Reverend George C. Lorimer

George C. Lorimer

George Claude Lorimer was a noted reverend, and was pastor of several churches around the United States, most notably the Tremont Temple in Boston, Massachusetts....

served as pastor of the church for twenty-one years, interrupted by brief pastorships in other locations, and finally ending in a 1901 move to a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

congregation.

The existing structure opened in May 1896. Designed by architect Clarence Blackall

Clarence Blackall

, it was intended to be a church with an auditorium suitable for business purposes. The building originally had stores on the ground floor and commercial offices on the upper floors. Revenue from business rents and rental of the auditorium for concerts enabled the church to continue to provide free seats to all worshipers. At various times, films were exhibited at Tremont Temple, though commercial leasing ended in 1956. However, the auditorium was used December 31, 1985, for a staged production of the opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

"The Burning Fiery Furnace

The Burning Fiery Furnace

The Burning Fiery Furnace is one of the three Parables for Church Performances composed by Benjamin Britten, dating from 1966, and is his Opus 77. The other two 'church parables' are Curlew River and The Prodigal Son . William Plomer was the librettist.The work was premiered at Orford Church,...

" by Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...

History

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