{"nrhp_refnum":"73000313","name":"Arlington Street Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Arlington and Boylston Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.33332439800006,"lon":-71.04129497099996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-05-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Arlington Street Church is a brownstone church building at the corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets in Boston, facing the Public Garden at the entrance to the Back Bay. It was built in 1859-61 to designs by Arthur Gilman.","why_significant":"It was the first church and the first public building erected in Boston's Back Bay. Its design drawn from eighteenth century English sources makes it an early harbinger of the Colonial Revival. It is also the fourth home of a Unitarian congregation gathered in 1729 and is considered the mother church of the denomination.","narrative":"Arlington Street Church sits on a corner lot at Arlington and Boylston Streets in Boston, facing the Public Garden at the entrance to the Back Bay. Built in 1859-61 from designs by architect Arthur Gilman, it is clad in New Jersey brownstone and topped by a 190-foot steeple patterned after St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Inside, 35-foot Corinthian columns, box pews, a vaulted ceiling and thirteen Tiffany windows reflect eighteenth century models. It was the first church and the first public building in the Back Bay, and its Georgian-inspired design anticipated the Colonial Revival by about twenty-five years. The congregation, gathered in 1729, is the fourth Unitarian home in Boston, and the American Unitarian Association held its annual May Meeting here for a century until 1965, earning the church recognition as the denomination's mother church. Its steeple also enhances views across the Public Garden.","period_of_significance":"1859-1861","architect_builder":"Arthur Gilman","architectural_style":"Derived from 16th century Italian Renaissance and 18th century English sources; harbinger of Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and unaltered, on its original site, occupied and in religious use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:55.053723-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/81/7969/63796981/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000313.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000313/51cfee8fbd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000313/51cfee8fbd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Kenneth C. Zirkel","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arlington_Street_Church,_Boston_Massachusetts.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kenneth C. Zirkel</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arlington_Street_Church,_Boston_Massachusetts.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796981","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_Street_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4792403"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/arlington-street-church-73000313/"}