{"nrhp_refnum":"75000300","name":"St. Stephen's Church","other_names":["New North Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Hanover St. between Clark and Harris Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.365727830000026,"lon":-71.05230260099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-04-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick church on Hanover Street in Boston's North End, designed in 1804 by Charles Bulfinch for the New North Congregational Society and now known as St. Stephen's Church.","why_significant":"It is Boston's only remaining church designed by Charles Bulfinch and was his third church commission in the city, showing a high point of his personal Federal style. Its changes from Congregational to Unitarian to Catholic use reflect the shifting religious and ethnic character of the North End. It also became the terminus of the Paul Revere Mall, created in 1926 as an urban design scheme.","narrative":"St. Stephen's Church is a brick meeting house on Hanover Street in Boston's North End, designed in 1804 by Charles Bulfinch for the New North Congregational Society. It is the only Bulfinch-designed church still standing in the city and his third in Boston. Its projecting three-bay tower, Palladian window, brownstone Ionic pilasters and open wooden belfry show his restrained neo-classical manner. The building is the third on its site and reused some timber from the 1730 structure. Congregational, then Unitarian, then Catholic congregations used it, and it was sold to the Archdiocese of Boston in 1862, mirroring the neighborhood's shift from Irish to Italian residents. It was moved back about 16 feet in 1870 when Hanover Street was widened, damaged by fires in 1897 and 1929, and restored in 1964-65. In 1926 the church became one end of the Paul Revere Mall, linking it visually with Christ Church.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Charles Bulfinch","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored in 1964-65 after fires in 1897 and 1929; in religious use as a church and listed in excellent condition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.218118-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/95/7969/63796995/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/75000300.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000300/24778e87a7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000300/24778e87a7-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Biruitorul (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Stephen%27s_Boston.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Biruitorul (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Stephen%27s_Boston.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796995","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen%27s_Church_(Boston)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2323323"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/st-stephens-church-75000300/"}