National Historic Landmark

First Church of Christ, Scientist

Berkeley, Alameda County, California
Listed
December 22, 1977
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
77000283

About this property

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Berkeley, now also known as Christian Science Society, Berkeley, is a Christian Science church, located at 2619 Dwight Way at Bowditch Street across the street from People's Park, in Berkeley, in Alameda County, California. The Christian Science Society, Berkeley continues to meet in their over-100-year-old church building. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Berkeley held its first service in Wilkin's Hall, 2412 Haste Street, on Sunday, March 12, 1905, and its present membership— October, 1905—is forty-eight. A lot was bought (2892 Dwight Way) in June, and a church building will be erected later on. The historic 1910 church was designed by renowned architect Bernard Ralph Maybeck (1862–1957), in a primarily American Craftsman style, with Byzantine Revival, Romanesque Revival, and Gothic Revival style elements. The church is widely considered one of Maybeck's masterpieces. The basic plan is that of a square or Greek cross, with two pair of great crossed trusses spanning the central space overhead. In 1929 a Sunday School addition was added to the Church. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977, and is on the National Register of Historic Places in Alameda County, California. In October 2005, the Friends of First Church Berkeley were awarded a prestigious federal Save America's Treasurers (SAT) Grant, for the roof replacement and seismic strengthening of the 1910 church and much of the 1929 Sunday school addition. The church received a Getty Architectural Conservation Implementation Grant in 2006, to enable the completion of the seismic strengthening of the church and Sunday school addition. In 2009 and 2010, the Friends of First Church Berkeley received University of California Berkeley Chancellor's Community Partnership Grants for restoring the garden setting of the church. List of Berkeley Landmarks in Berkeley, California National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California Friends of First Church Berkeley — Bernard Maybeck's architectural masterpiece

Location

2619 Dwight Way
Berkeley, Alameda County, California
37.86583, -122.25577

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

People’s Park
Listed
0.1 mi
Anna Head School for Girls
Industrial
0.1 mi
University Art Museum
Industrial
0.2 mi
College Women's Club
Industrial
0.2 mi
Hearst Gymnasium for Women
Industrial
0.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was First Church of Christ, Scientist listed on the National Register?

First Church of Christ, Scientist was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1977.

What type of historic resource is First Church of Christ, Scientist?

First Church of Christ, Scientist is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

Is First Church of Christ, Scientist a National Historic Landmark?

Yes. First Church of Christ, Scientist has been designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL), the highest level of federal recognition for historic properties in the United States.

What is the period of significance for First Church of Christ, Scientist?

The period of significance for First Church of Christ, Scientist is recorded as the industrial era.

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