First Unitarian Church
National Register of Historic Places

First Unitarian Church

Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Listed
September 3, 1986
Type
Building
Period
Civil War
Ref No.
86001802

About this property

The First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton occupies a prominent location at 1326 Washington Street in the heart of the village of West Newton in Newton, Massachusetts. Architect Ralph Adams Cram designed the church, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. designed the grounds, the cornerstone was laid in 1905, and it was dedicated in 1906; it is one of the village's oldest buildings. The church is in Cram's signature Gothic Revival style, with buttressed walls and a blocky square tower with crenellations and spires. An enclosed courtyard is formed by an office wing, banquet hall, and parish house, which are built to resemble Elizabethan architecture with brick first floor and half-timbered upper level. The Unitarian Society was organized in 1848, and its first building was built in 1860. A Gothic Revival structure later expanded with Stick style decoration, it stood at the present location of the West Newton Cinema. The present building was built on the site of an early experimental normal school (later moved to Framingham and now Framingham State University, and has a stained glass window featuring two Massachusetts education pioneers (and parishioners of the church), Horace Mann and Cyrus Peirce. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the First Unitarian Church in 1986.

Location

1326 Washington St.
Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
42.34858, -71.22766

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

West Newton Village Center Historic District
Listed
0.1 mi
Railroad Hotel
Industrial
0.1 mi
Allen, Nathaniel Topliff, Homestead
Industrial
0.1 mi
Second Church of Newton
Industrial
0.1 mi
Webster Park Historic District
Listed
0.2 mi

Nearby Battles

Skirmish at Menotomy (Arlington)
1775Revolutionary War
5.8 mi
Battle of Menotomy
1775Revolutionary War
5.9 mi
Siege of Boston – Cambridge Lines
1775Revolutionary War
6.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was First Unitarian Church listed on the National Register?

First Unitarian Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 3, 1986.

What type of historic resource is First Unitarian Church?

First Unitarian Church is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for First Unitarian Church?

The period of significance for First Unitarian Church is recorded as the civil_war era, specifically around 1326.

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