{"nrhp_refnum":"89001569","name":"St. Charles Borromeo Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Hall and Cushing Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Waltham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.368962123000074,"lon":-71.23554407299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Charles Borromeo Church is a Roman Catholic church at the corner of Hall and Cushing Streets in Waltham, Massachusetts, built between 1915 and 1922 to designs by James F. Monaghan.","why_significant":"It is significant as Waltham's second Catholic parish, reflecting the South Side's shift from a Waltham Watch-employed, Protestant-dominated population to a multi-ethnic, multi-denominational mix. It is also ranked among the finest early 20th century Italian Renaissance Revival churches in the Boston area.","narrative":"St. Charles Borromeo Church, at Hall and Cushing Streets in Waltham, is a large Roman Catholic church of terra cotta brick with stone trim, built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Architect James F. Monaghan designed it on a Latin-cross plan to seat 1,200, and his father, John Monaghan, served as contractor. Cottages on the site were moved in 1915 to make way for construction. Work paused to reduce debt and resumed in 1922, and a fire in 1927 gutted the nearly finished interior before it was refurbished. The street facade features two colossal Corinthian columns, a pediment, and a doorway tympanum showing St. Charles ministering to the sick. Inside are an aisled nave with Tuscan pillars and murals in the crossing. The parish was founded in 1909 as Waltham's second Catholic parish and reflects the changing population of the city's South Side. The building is also regarded as one of the area's finest churches of its type and period.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect James F. Monaghan; contractor John Monaghan (his father)","architectural_style":"Italian Renaissance Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition described as good; still in use as a church with an active parish.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:12:59.753755-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/7917/63791744/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001569.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001569/6694054756-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001569/6694054756-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WalthamMA_StCharlesBorromeoChurch.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</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:WalthamMA_StCharlesBorromeoChurch.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791744","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Charles_Borromeo_Church_(Waltham,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7587498"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/st-charles-borromeo-church-89001569/"}