The First Parish Church is a Norman Gothic style

fieldstone church A fieldstone church () is a type of church, built using fieldstone of glacial erratics and glacial rubble. Such cathedrals and monasteries occur mostly in areas where the ice ages have deposited such rock material on the one hand, and where on t ...

built in 1888 by Peabody & Stearns with landscaping by Charles Eliot. It is located on

Boston Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Ro ...

Weston, Massachusetts Weston is an affluent town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located approximately west of Boston. At the time of the 2020 United States census, the population of Weston was 11,851. Weston was incorporated in 1713, and protect ...

. The current structure is the fourth church built at this site for the First Parish of Weston.

History

The First Parish Church in Weston, Massachusetts has a history spanning nearly 300 years, with four different buildings erected on the same spot in Weston Center. Originally, in the mid-17th century, farmers and their families of the then West End of Watertown, gathered on this spot on Sunday mornings. The closest church was located in Watertown, ten miles away. Citing the long journey, the West End residents petitioned for their own church. In 1698, the first meetinghouse was built. It was "a rough hewn structure built of logs" with a "hard dirt floor and wooden benches." The original congregation consisted of 18 men and their families. Men sat on one side, women and girls on the other, while the minister timed his sermon with an hourglass. This building was used for all church and town related meetings. The meetinghouse was too small for the growing congregation and was in need of repair. In 1721, a larger

colonial style American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), Spanish Colonial, French Colonial, Dutch Colonial, and Georgian ...

meetinghouse was built, which was updated in 1800 with a larger bell and a

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a relig ...

. The meetinghouse served the parish for 118 years, and was heated for the first time in 1815. In 1839, plans for a new church and town hall building began to separate the two and in 1840, the third church was built in the

Greek Revival style Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

. This church served the congregation until 1888, when a committee unanimously decided that "the Parish build a new church edifice of stone, its cost not to exceed $10,000."

Peabody and Stearns Peabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody (1845–1917) and John Goddard Stearns ...

were chosen to design this new church, costing $15,000, including furnishings.

Design

Peabody & Stearns designed the 1 story church in the Norman Gothic style based on churches of the English countryside seen by two benefactors of the Parish. The church foundation and exterior was built of

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

with ashlar cut limestone dressing, boulder walling, and patterned shingles. The interior was made of exposed red brick. The church has a complex slate and shingle ridge roof complement the front and side gable ends and half-timber stone walling. The church features stained glass windows crafted by

Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is associated with the art nouveauLander, David"The Buyable ...

(west end) and Charles Jay Connick (on the east

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

, from a chapel in Manchester-by-the-Sea). Notably, the church

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

houses an 1800

Revere bell The Revere Bell was a gift to Singapore by Mrs. Maria Revere Balestier, the daughter of Paul Revere and wife of the first American Consul to Singapore, Joseph Balestier. Cast by the Revere Copper Company in Boston, Massachusetts, it is the o ...

, initially acquired for use in the second church. A

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...

was added in 1913 at 3 Conant Road. In 1922, a parish house was added, followed by a chapel designed by H. B. Willis in 1930, and a new wing by Pierce & Pierce in 1966. The surrounding grounds and landscape was designed by Charles Eliot. In addition to the church and chapel, there includes a shed on Church Street and a house from the former Endicott Estate.

Notable people

* Rev. Samuel Woodward – 3rd minister of the First Parish * Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears – 6th minister of the First Parish

Gallery

File:First Parish Church (Weston, Massachusetts) - DSC00526.JPG, Side of church File:First Parish Church (Weston, Massachusetts) - DSC00515.JPG, Front of church File:First Church Parish Weston 1896.jpg, Church in 1896 File:First Parish Church, Weston MA.jpg, Church in 2010 File:First Parish Church postcard 1914.png, Church pre-1896

References

{{Peabody & Stearns Peabody and Stearns buildings Stone churches in Massachusetts 19th-century Unitarian Universalist church buildings Unitarian Universalist churches in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Weston, Massachusetts Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts Gothic Revival church buildings in Massachusetts