The Old West Church is a historic

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

at 131 Cambridge Street in the West End of

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. It was built in 1806 to designs by architect Asher Benjamin, and is considered one of his finest works. It is a monumentally-scaled example of ecclesiastical

Federal architecture Federal-style architecture is the name for the classical architecture built in the United States following the American Revolution between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was influenced heavily by the works of And ...

, whose design was widely copied throughout New England.

Description and history

The first church on this site was built in 1737 as a wood-frame building, and was occupied as a barracks by British troops during their occupation of the city prior to the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. The British destroyed its tower in 1775 when they suspected that American Colonials were signaling to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

from the spire. In 1806 the congregation commissioned Asher Benjamin to design a new church building. As in the architect's earlier Charles Street Meeting House (1804), its -story brick entry tower is crowned with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

; the whole tower projects outward somewhat from the church hall behind. Four shallow brick

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s, each two stories high and trimmed with white wood, separate the three entry doors. Each door is echoed by a window above it. The tower's third story is outfitted with pairs of Doric pilasters. On the final half-story beneath the cupola are clocks on each face of the tower, each adorned with a light swag. On the back wall, the original central pulpit window has been filled in with brickwork. Old West's preaching played a major role in American history. Jonathan Mayhew, the church's second Congregational pastor, spoke out as early as 1750 about the right of removing tyrannical leaders. His preaching is considered by some to be theologically radical, although other scholars maintain that Mayhew preserved many conservative Puritan theological and political themes. Some Unitarians believe Mayhew was a predecessor to later liberal ministers like

William Ellery Channing William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarianism, Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theolo ...

in his exposition of

anti-trinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the orthodox Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ( ...

views; however, Mayhew explicitly denied Unitarianism and it would be inaccurate and anachronistic to impose that later label on him. By the early 19th century,

Unitarianism Unitarianism () is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian sect of Christianity. Unitarian Christians affirm the wikt:unitary, unitary God in Christianity, nature of God as the singular and unique Creator deity, creator of the universe, believe that ...

had found its way into 9 of Boston's original 13 orthodox

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

churches. Other notable pastors included Charles Lowell, and Cyrus Augustus Bartol. The church was originally and for 150 years Congregational. Between 1894 and 1960 the building served as a branch of the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse''), meaning all adult re ...

. Since 1961, the building has been owned by the

. The building was designated 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 1970 for its architectural significance.

Gallery

File:1920 CambridgeSt Boston 2590352260.jpg, The church in 1920 File:Old West Church Boston.jpg,

Linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of relief printing in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief printing, relief surface. A design i ...

of the church created by Stanley Scott in 1939 for the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

File:Old West Church, Cambridge St. Boston.jpg, The facade of the church in 2012. File:2010 CambridgeSt Boston.jpg, The church neighbors the First Harrison Gray Otis House

References

External links

* http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.ma0487 * https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/5415294659/
Old West Church web site
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Churches completed in 1806 Asher Benjamin buildings Churches in Boston National Historic Landmarks in Boston Towers in Massachusetts Clock towers in Massachusetts West End, Boston Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston

Description and history

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links