{"nrhp_refnum":"89001374","name":"Bethany Congregational Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8 Spear St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Quincy","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.251730645000066,"lon":-71.00059656799993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Bethany Congregational Church is a granite Gothic Revival church at 8 Spear Street in Quincy, Massachusetts, built in 1927 and designed by the Boston firm J. William Beal and Sons.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is Quincy's most elaborate example of 20th century Gothic Revival architecture. It is tied to a Boston architectural firm that was active in Quincy in this period, and it retains its design, materials, location and setting. It is evaluated under Criterion C and a religious-property exception (A), at the local level.","narrative":"Bethany Congregational Church at 8 Spear Street in Quincy is a granite church completed in 1927 in the Gothic Revival style. Its architects were J. William Beal and Sons of Boston, who had already designed several other Quincy buildings, including the Adams Building, the Elks Building and the Masonic Temple. The most striking feature is a tall square tower with a pinnacled parapet, buttressed corners, gargoyles and tripartite windows that recall the Perpendicular Gothic period. The gabled facade has a Tudor-arched opening with five cusped lancet windows in a limestone frame, plus a projecting gabled entrance porch. The building is the congregation's third home. The congregation first met in 1832, built a meetinghouse in 1834, and erected a new building in 1870. In the 1920s that building was torn down and the land sold to the Granite Trust Company, which provided the Spear Street site for the new church. It is regarded as Quincy's most elaborate twentieth century Gothic Revival church and retains its original character.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"J. William Beal and Sons","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, with no major alterations, not moved, and still in 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 02:13:01.875333-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/21/7924/63792421/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001374.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001374/54b5d19d95-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001374/54b5d19d95-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bethany_Congregational_Church_Quincy_MA_01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Bethany_Congregational_Church_Quincy_MA_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792421","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethany_Congregational_Church_(Quincy,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4897737"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/bethany-congregational-church-89001374/"}