Article March 12, 1938 Issue

Among the Churches

Current Notes

Cambridge Tribune

Cambridge, Massachusetts (First Church).—Three services were held on Sunday, May 23, 1937, at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Cambridge, to accommodate those who wished to attend the dedication of the church edifice at Massachusetts Avenue, corner of Waterhouse Street, facing the Common. The services were identical. In addition to the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly on the subject, "Soul and Body," a short history of the church was read. This told of the organizing of the church in 1899 at the direct request of Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, as one step in relieving the crowded condition at The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts.

The first service was held in Brattle Hall, January 22, 1899, and all regular church and Sunday school services were held there up to the time the new church was opened. Ground was broken for the foundation of the present church edifice on August 15, 1923, the cornerstone laid at sunrise on January 10, 1924, and the first church service was held in the completed Sunday school room September 7, 1924.

The building is of Georgian architecture, harmonizing with the many beautiful buildings in the Harvard Square area. The principal feature of the design is a circular auditorium, having a low balcony, and a domed ceiling of acoustic tiles in coffered pattern. This circular plan is expressed externally by a segmented dome which crowns the structure. A high portico of four limestone columns with carved caps, having a pediment above in stone, marks the entraces facing the Common. Granite and limestone are used for the foundations and for the architectural trim above the ground as a contrast to the main walls, which are of "Harvard" brick. It is a strictly fireproof structure, using, in addition to the materials just mentioned, steel, reinforced concrete, and terra cotta.

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