Christian Science Church complex

The Christian Science Church complex in Boston’s Back Bay is a 14-acre oasis of calm in the middle of towering buildings.

With Massachusetts Avenue at one end and Hynes Convention Center and the Prudential Center at the other, the plaza at Huntington and Massachusetts avenues offers stark contrast to the dense cityscape.

A reflecting pool almost as long as two football fields draws office workers on lunch breaks, international tourists, strolling lovers and people just looking for a peaceful place. In warm weather, kids scamper through the children’s fountain.

The close-by Prudential Center has two of the three tallest buildings in Boston, the 52-story Prudential building and the 36-floor 111 Huntington Avenue building. Tallest [not counting roof antennae] is the 60-story Hancock tower, a half-mile east in Copley Square.

The Mother Church complex is the headquarters of the Church of Christ, Scientist. It is “one of the most beloved modern icons in Boston,” says WBUR Radio Boston host Meghna Chakrabarti.

Symphony Hall, Berklee College of Music and many top hotels are a short walk away. The Museum of Fine Arts is a half-mile west on Huntington Avenue. 

Ten of the church’s 14 acres are public and more than 75,000 visitors from some 140 countries visit the plaza each year, a church spokeswoman said.
 
Called officially The First Church of Christ, Scientist, there are two church buildings among the structures. The original 1894 Mother Church, built in Romanesque architectural style, is the smaller and has beautiful stained-glass windows depicting Bible passages.

The larger, domed 1906 building facing Massachusetts Avenue is called the Mother Church “Extension.” It combines Renaissance and Byzantine architectural styles and has one of the world’s largest pipe organs, with 13,295 pipes. The largest is three stories high; the shortest half an inch.

The organ is played at Sunday morning services and at free community recitals throughout the year.

The Christian Science church is one of the few American churches founded by a woman, Mary Baker Eddy, also known as an author, lecturer, teacher, Bible scholar, and publisher. The Christian Science Monitor, a venerable newspaper now on the web only, is created at the complex.

Church officials and local preservationists faced off over church plans to change the 40-year-old plaza. Initial plans would shorten the 676-foot reflecting pool by 18 feet, build a footbridge over the pool to the original church and lower the water level. They also want two office-residential buildings at the north end of the property. A church spokeswoman said plans are only in early stages.

Attractions in the Mary Baker Eddy Library include the “Mapparium.” More than ten million people have crossed a glass bridge in a 30-foot-high, stained-glass globe and seen world maps unchanged since 1935.

HelloBoston Tip: Half-hour tours of both churches are free, Tuesday through Sunday. Click here for details.
 

- by Dan Sheridan, Boston Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)