Old West Church (Massachusetts)
| Old West Church | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| National Register of Historic Places | |||
| National Historic Landmark | |||
| Historic District Contributing Property | |||
 The Old West Church |
|||
|
|||
| location | Boston , Massachusetts , United States | ||
| Coordinates | 42 ° 21 '41.2 " N , 71 ° 3' 51.2" W | ||
| Built | 1806 | ||
| architect | Asher Benjamin | ||
| Architectural style | Federal style | ||
| NRHP number | 70000691 | ||
| Data | |||
| The NRHP added | December 30, 1970 | ||
| Declared as an NHL | December 30, 1970 | ||
| Declared as CP | October 15, 1966 | ||
The Old West Church is a historic church building in the Boston West End in the state of Massachusetts in the United States . It stands at 131 Cambridge Street and was built in 1806 to designs by the architect Asher Benjamin . The slogan " no taxation without representation " was chanted in this church for the first time. The structure was entered on December 30, 1970 as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places . In addition, the church has been a Contributing Property of the Beacon Hill Historic District since 1966 .
prehistory
The first church was built on this site in 1737 and was initially made of wood. It was used as a barracks by British troops during their siege of the city just before the American Revolution . The building was torn down when the British suspected that American colonists were sending signals to Cambridge from their tower .
history
Church sermons have played a vital role in US history. Jonathan Mayhew , the Church's second congregational pastor, coined the phrase “no taxation without representation” in a sermon that was viewed as radical from a theological point of view. It is viewed by some Unitarian theologians as the forerunner of William Ellery Channing's speech in which he presented his anti-Trinitarian views. In the early 19th century, nine of the original 13 Orthodox congregational churches in Boston had already converted to Unitarianism.
The Old West Church was part of the Congregational Church for many years and was a branch of the Boston Public Library from 1894 to 1896 . The building has been owned by the Methodist Church since 1964 .
architecture
Similar to the Charles Street Meeting House designed by Asher Benjamin in 1804, the church has a 3½-story entrance tower crowned by a dome . Four flat pilasters made of brick , each two stories high and framed with white wood, separate the three entrance doors, above each of which a window is arranged. The third floor of the tower is decorated with pilasters in a Doric order . On the final half-height floor below the dome, clocks decorated with a modeled curtain are attached to each side of the tower. The original central window to the pulpit was bricked up in the rear wall .
See also
- List of entries on the National Register of Historic Places in northern Boston
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston
literature
- Nancy S. Voye: Asher Benjamin's West Church : A Model for Change. Old-Time New England, Volume 67, No. 245, Summer-Autumn 1976 ( PDF )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chris Beneke: The Critical Turn: Jonathan Mayhew, the British Empire, and the Idea of Resistance in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Boston . In: Massachusetts Historical Review . Vol. 10, 2008.
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Massachusetts. National Park Service , accessed August 6, 2019.