First Church Of Christ, Scientist (Berkeley, California)
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First Church of Christ, Scientist, Berkeley, now also known as Christian Science Society, Berkeley, is a
Christian Science church The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of ''Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,'' and founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word and ...
, located at 2619 Dwight Way at Bowditch Street across the street from People's Park, in
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...
, in
Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...
. The Christian Science Society, Berkeley continues to meet in their over-100-year-old church building.


History

The historic 1910 church was designed by renowned architect Bernard Ralph Maybeck (1862–1957), in a primarily American Craftsman style, with
Byzantine Revival Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Or ...
,
Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...
, and
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
style elements. The church is widely considered one of Maybeck's
masterpiece A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...
s.Maybeck and His Work
/ref>
/ref> The basic plan is that of a square or
Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Jesus, Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...
, with two pair of great crossed
truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so ...
es spanning the central space overhead. In 1929 a Sunday School addition was added to the Church.


Landmark

It was declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 1977, and is on the
National Register of Historic Places in Alameda County, California __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alameda County, C ...
. and   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.Friends of First Church Berkeley: Preservation Grants
/ref> 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.
/ref> 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.


See also

* *
List of Berkeley Landmarks in Berkeley, California This is a list of landmarks in Berkeley, California. "Berkeley Landmarks", "Structures of Merit", and "Historic Districts" are a classification given by the City of Berkeley for buildings or areas of local historic importance. As of 2022, there ar ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Alameda County, California. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alameda County, C ...


References


External links

*
Friends of First Church Berkeley — Bernard Maybeck's architectural masterpiece
{{National Register of Historic Places in California Churches in Alameda County, California Buildings and structures in Berkeley, California Christian Science churches in California Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley, California National Historic Landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area 1910 establishments in California Churches completed in 1910 Bernard Maybeck buildings American Craftsman architecture in California Byzantine Revival architecture in California Gothic Revival church buildings in California Romanesque Revival church buildings in California Berkeley landmarks in Berkeley, California