{"nrhp_refnum":"75000281","name":"Unitarian Universalist Church and Parsonage","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"141 and 147 High St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Medford","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.42051379900005,"lon":-71.11486151299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-04-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A pair of buildings at 141 and 147 High Street in Medford, Massachusetts: a Gothic Revival stone and wood church built in 1893-94 and the Reverend David Osgood Parsonage, a late Georgian frame house built in 1785.","why_significant":"The church is described as Medford's most imaginative example of late Gothic Revival design, by Boston architect J. Merrill Brown, with fine masonry by the Dodge Brothers. The parsonage is a rare, well-preserved late Georgian house, documented by its original 1785 cost sheet. Together they represent the town's architectural and religious heritage, tied to the First Parish and to the long ministry of David Osgood.","narrative":"Two buildings face each other across Powderhouse Road on High Street in Medford. The church, built in 1893-94 on the rebuilt foundation of an earlier meeting house, is a picturesque Gothic Revival design by Boston architect J. Merrill Brown, who trained in the offices of Henry H. Richardson and Peabody and Stearns. It combines New Hampshire granite, pink and buff stone trim, slate roofing, shingled gables, stained glass and a crenellated corner tower. Across the road stands the Reverend David Osgood Parsonage, a two-story clapboarded Georgian house from 1785 with pedimented entrances and an intact eight-room central-hall plan. Its original cost sheet survives and was published in the Medford Historical Register. Osgood served the First Parish from 1774 until his death in 1822. The church is the parish's fifth meeting house, and the parsonage has served as the congregation's educational building since 1961.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799, 1800-1899","architect_builder":"J. Merrill Brown, church","architectural_style":"Late Gothic Revival (church); late Georgian (parsonage)","criteria":[],"status_note":"The church remains in religious use. The parsonage has served as the congregation's Educational Building since 1961, with additional space used for adolescent counseling services and public groups.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.307184-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/7960/63796031/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/75000281.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000281/04132913c6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000281/04132913c6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unitarian_Universalist_Church_and_Parsonage,_Medford_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unitarian_Universalist_Church_and_Parsonage,_Medford_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796031","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalist_Church_of_Medford_and_the_Osgood_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7887214"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/unitarian-universalist-church-and-parsonage-75000281/"}