{"nrhp_refnum":"98001381","name":"Baker Congregational Church","other_names":["Baker Maverick Congregational Church","Grace Church Federated"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"760 Saratoga St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.38400249000006,"lon":-71.01718528599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-11-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A raised one-story Shingle Style church at 760 Saratoga Street in the Orient Heights section of East Boston, Massachusetts, built 1903-1904 with John Nelson Thisland as builder.","why_significant":"It is locally significant under Criterion A for social history, as a gathering place for families moving into Orient Heights and one of the few surviving Protestant churches in East Boston. It is also significant under Criterion C as a relatively unaltered local example of Shingle Style ecclesiastical architecture.","narrative":"Baker Congregational Church is a small shingle-clad church at the corner of Saratoga and Byron Streets in the Orient Heights section of East Boston. Ground was broken in August 1903 and the first service was held on May 1, 1904. The building has a brick foundation, wood shingle walls, a steep gable roof and a bell tower entrance. Its interior is plain, with a sanctuary and a basement function room. The congregation formed in 1897, grew from the older Maverick Congregational Church, and later united with it and then federated with Episcopal congregations as Grace Church Federated. As East Boston became increasingly Catholic, it remained one of the few Protestant churches in the area and served as a social center through concerts, suppers and fairs. The church is valued for that community role and as a largely unaltered local example of Shingle Style church design. It remains in use for worship and neighborhood programs.","period_of_significance":"1903-1948","architect_builder":"Builder: John Nelson Thisland","architectural_style":"Shingle Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still an active church and neighborhood social center, hosting weekly services, a food pantry, community groups and a Spanish-language congregation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.69089-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/12/7970/63797012/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/98001381.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001381/590b9fd2db-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001381/590b9fd2db-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baker_Congregational_Church_East_Boston_MA_02.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Baker_Congregational_Church_East_Boston_MA_02.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797012","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Congregational_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4849133"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/baker-congregational-church-98001381/"}