{"nrhp_refnum":"83000829","name":"St. John's Roman Catholic Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2270 Massachusetts Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.39407692900005,"lon":-71.12733691999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-06-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Roman Catholic church at 2270 Massachusetts Avenue in the Northwest Cambridge area of Cambridge, Massachusetts, designed in 1904 by Maginnis, Walsh & Sullivan and completed a year later.","why_significant":"The church is considered significant under Criterion A for its association with the development of Massachusetts Avenue and North Cambridge, especially the Irish Catholic settlement on the outer avenue. A 1957 fire required rebuilding of the upper part, but reviewers judged that the church kept enough integrity to be eligible.","narrative":"St. John's Roman Catholic Church at 2270 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge was designed in 1904 by Maginnis, Walsh & Sullivan and finished a year later. It replaced the parish's earlier combined school and church of 1891 on Rindge Avenue. The Tuscan Romanesque building is brick with ivory, green and red terra cotta detail, and marble columns carry arched openings at the entrance. A tall Florentine-style campanile of about 100 feet stands well back from the Hollis Street facade. A serious fire in 1957 led to reconstruction of the upper church, including the second story of the facade, with a lowered gable and a simplified rose window. The parish served the Irish Catholic community that settled along outer Massachusetts Avenue between about 1890 and 1930. It was listed because of that link to the growth of North Cambridge, and the alterations were judged not to erase the association.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Maginnis, Walsh & Sullivan","architectural_style":"Tuscan Romanesque","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Part of the church was rebuilt after a 1957 fire; the form lists the present use as a church.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.472449-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/7906/63790615/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000829.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000829/f5a153d022-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000829/f5a153d022-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cambridge_MA_St_Johns_Roman_Catholic_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cambridge_MA_St_Johns_Roman_Catholic_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790615","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John_the_Evangelist_Church_(Cambridge,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7588829"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/st-johns-roman-catholic-church-83000829/"}