Blessed Sacrament Church / First Haitian Baptist Church / Resurrection Lutheran Church / First Baptist Church / First Church in Roxbury / Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help / Gloucester Memorial Presbyterian Church / First Parish Church / Holy Trinity Church / Union United Methodist Church / Second Church in Dorchester / Eliot Congregational Church / People's Baptist Church / Roxbury Presbyterian Church

Each of the religious properties which Historic Boston invites to apply for a competitive matching grant occupies a commanding place in its neighborhood, provides outreach programs for the local community, is listed or is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and has a legacy of deferred maintenance. Lighting the steeples, towers and domes of these structures creates a strong sense of neighborhood identification and community pride, while enlivening the city's streets after dark.  The loss of these buildings through disrepair would impoverish not only Boston's skyline, but also its neighborhoods.

The staff of Historic Boston selects historic religious properties for the Steeples Project which (1) have a critical need for major physical improvements, (2) serve the disadvantaged population of the city with social programs, (3) are architecturally significant, and (4) have leaders who are willing to participate in restoration and fund-raising efforts.

Commanding attention even against the backdrop of a modern city, the dome of Blessed Sacrament Church in Jamaica Plain now plays a lively role in Boston's nightly skyline, thanks to a grant from the Steeples Project

Blessed Sacrament Church
361 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain

The cupola and dome of Jamaica Plain's Blessed Sacrament Church dramatically demonstrate the artistic excellence that was a part of this blue collar neighborhood early in the 20th century. Blessed Sacrament is also home to one of the most artistically and architecturally significant religious interiors in Boston.

In 1986, Blessed Sacrament's congregation had to stop using the main sanctuary space because of falling plaster.  As a precursor of the Steeples Project, Historic Boston intervened in 1989 and produced an assessment of the structure which was used to begin rehabilitation work.  Since then, the church has made the building water-tight and has resumed using the sanctuary.

Today this historic structure, a contributor to the proposed Hyde Square National Register District, brings Spanish and English speaking people together in a community of faith.  In November 1995, Blessed Sacrament Church gained a vivid night presence when its dome and cupola were lit with the help of a $7,000 matching grant for lighting design and installation from the Steeples Project.

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Burke

First Haitian Baptist Church
397 Blue Hill Avenue, Roxbury

A dramatic presence on Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury, the services conducted here in Creole and in French held a congregation of over 600 in rapt attention for more than three hours on the Sunday that Historic Boston staff attended. Both inside and out, the Romanesque Revival structure preserves evidence of its origins in 1906 as Congregation Adath Jeshurun, once the largest Orthodox synagogue in New England.

The sanctuary remains much as it was when it was built.  It still contains its original ark, facing toward Jerusalem, as prescribed by Jewish law.

Resurrection Lutheran Church
94 Warren Street, Roxbury

The dramatic tower of Resurrection Lutheran Church contributes to the Moreland Street National Register District and marks the southern boundary of Dudley Square in Roxbury.  Built in 1924, Resurrection Lutheran has served a succession of communities, including its present day mixed Swedish and African American congregation.  The church, built in a Romanesque Revival style, is an important presence in the Dudley Square neighborhood, providing vital after-school and summer children's programs as well as a shelter for young mothers and their children.

In the 1970s, the congregation borrowed $150,000 to renovate the basement without paying attention to the roof of the church, where leaking water was damaging interior plaster walls.  The basement subsequently flooded.

In 1993, the Steeples project awarded the church a $27,750 grant for technical assistance to assess the overall condition of the structure and begin major repairs to the highly visible steeple.  In early 1994, volunteers shoveled out half a foot of pigeon droppings from the tower to ready it for the rehabilitation work. In 1996, the Steeples Project awarded the church $20,000 for a project to fix the roof of the church.

First Baptist Church
110 Commonwealth Avenue, Back Bay

There will never be another tower to match the prominent First Baptist Church, designed by H.H. Richardson in 1871 before his more famous project, the nearby Trinity Church. The tower's frieze, designed by Statue of Liberty artist Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, disappears at night while some of the neighboring churches (including Trinity Church and New Old South Church) glow elegantly. Paying homage to its urban location, the largely African American First Baptist Church has a long history of community service to the underprivileged in Boston, including counseling, feeding, and sheltering of the city's homeless population.   HBI hopes to persuade the church leadership to grapple in a comprehensive way with costly deferred maintenance issues which will imperil the future of this impressive tower and building.

First Church in Roxbury
160 Roxbury Street, Roxbury

First Church, built in 1803-04 in a Federal Meetinghouse style, is the crowning centerpiece of John Eliot Square in Roxbury and the oldest wood frame church in Boston.  Although reconstructed after the hurricane of 1938, the hilltop steeple still reminds passersby of the days when Roxbury's life was based upon an agricultural economy.  John Eliot, the "Apostle to the Indians" and founder of the Roxbury Latin School, was an early minister of the congregation.

Today this structure serves a small Unitarian congregation and is rented to other religious congregations.  The Meeting House on the grounds of the church is the site of several youth programs, including after-school care, academic tutoring, and anti-violence training.  In addition, the church hosts two Narcotics Anonymous meetings each week, and is used for cultural events.

A 1993 Steeples Project grant lit the interior of the church steeple.  The dramatic results can be seen from miles away and has made a distinct impact on the nighttime streetscape around John Eliot Square.  The Steeples Project awarded a $10,000 grant in 1996 to make the steeple weatherproof.

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Burke

Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
1545 Tremont Street, Mission Hill

Gloucester Memorial Presbyterian Church
720 Parker Street, Mission Hill

The basilica, with its 215-foot twin spires, is one of Boston's most visible religious landmarks.   It is known to most Bostonians by its nickname, "Mission Church."   The Redemptorist Fathers have recently completed major repairs to the steeples, but at the rear of the basilica are three ancillary buildings that face an uncertain future.   The spires of the imposing basilica are not well illuminated.

Gloucester Memorial Presbyterian Church's tower dominates its corner site.   Deferred maintenance and a small congregation impelled Historic Boston in 1994 to prepare a study assessing options for the use of this site, including the sale of the building.

The twin towers of Mission Church stand behind the spire of Gloucester Memorial Presbyterian Church in the transitional Mission Hill neighborhood.

First Parish Church
10 Parish Street, Dorchester

This tall church building stands out on the landscape as few others do, marking the peak of Meetinghouse Hill in Dorchester.  First Parish Church is only one of three wooden Federal Meetinghouse style churches in Boston and can trace the roots of its congregation back to the arrival of the Puritans in the 1600s.

The building is used by over a dozen different groups and the church minister is working to meet the needs of the local Vietnamese community and other new immigrant populations in the area.

Interior water damage at intersecting roof joints of this important building and concerns about the stability of the steeple make this church a prime candidate for a repair grant. A 1996 lighting grant from the Steeples Project illuminated the spire.

Photo courtesy of the Boston Landmarks Commission

Holy Trinity Church
140 Shawmut Avenue, South End

The German immigrants who built Holy Trinity more than 120 years ago introduced many of their Christmas customs to Boston, including Christmas cards and decorated trees.  In addition, it was the birthplace of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  Currently, Holy Trinity is the only Roman Catholic ethnic German parish remaining in New England.

In 1994, the Parish Council and the Archdiocese sought Historic Boston's advice on how to repair the Gothic tower whose spire was lost in the hurricane of 1938.  The leaky stump that remained was causing extensive water damage. Historic Boston granted the church $20,000 to repair the tower and restore its four original finials.

Today, Holy Trinity is the site of the Archdiocese's only Traditional Latin Mass.  Most of the German congregation has moved to the suburbs but a young and vibrant Latin Mass community has taken its place.  The building has magnificent stained glass windows that have deteriorated, there is evidence of recent water damage on several of the large murals inside the church, and some of its historic bells are no longer used because of structural concerns.  The church is visible from the Southeast Expressway, the Boston Common, and the city's Theater District.

Union United Methodist Church
485 Columbus Avenue, South End

From its abolitionist efforts in the early nineteenth century to its civil rights activities in the 1960's and 1970's, this black Methodist congregation has played an important role in Boston's history.  The church building extends the length of a city block and its 150 foot puddingstone tower can be seen from several Boston vantage points.  As the result of a 1998 Steeples Project lighting grant, the spire is now illuminated at night, making a dramatic impact on the streetscape of Columbus Avenue.

Early planning efforts without the benefit of an architect yielded best estimates of $70,000 to repair the church's neglected steeple.  A $5,000 technical assistance grant from the 1994/95 Steeples grant cycle produced a building assessment from a well respected architectural firm.  Close inspections from a cherry-picker revealed monumental mortar decay and other structural problems that added up to a price tag that was quadruple the initial estimate. Armed with a professional building report, and catalyzed by a Steeples major repair grant of $37,000, the congregation was able to raise more than $200,000 from public and private sources to finance the restoration of the steeple.

Second Church in Dorchester
600 Washington Street, Dorchester

The Second Church in Dorchester contributes to the Codman Square National Register District and is an important visual focal point for struggling Codman Square, which is named after the Rev. John Codman, a former pastor.  The Second Church building has an illustrious past. Its first congregation was an offshoot of the First Parish Church in Dorchester, and included such notable figures as John Adams, Daniel Webster, and the chocolate manufacturer Colonel Walter Baker.

In the early 1990s ownership transferred to the Church of the Nazarene and the new pastor, installed in 1995, is grappling with proposed interior changes and maintenance planning.  In 1998, HBI awarded the church a $4,000 technical assistance grant toward a comprehensive evaluation of the structure.  The church now has a strong nighttime impact on the streets surrounding Codman Square as the result of a Steeples Project grant to install architectural lighting.

Eliot Congregational Church
120 Walnut Avenue, Roxbury

Eliot Church is distinguished by its impressive size, dramatic corner location, and history of service to the surrounding area.  The large church building is open every day of the week for a variety of programs with a focus on children, including a school for pre-kindergarten through third grade.

The church's polychromatic slate roof is in serious disrepair, as are the stained glass windows, several of which were designed by Tiffany Studios.

The tower of this imposing building is endangered due to deteriorating mortar.   Disintegrated mortar in the Roxbury puddingstone walls was also causing extensive water damage to the structure, which escalated at an alarming rate with each freeze/thaw cycle of the New England winters.

Using a $3,500 lighting grant from the 1993/94 Steeples Project cycle, the church established a nighttime presence in its neighborhood.  A $34,000 grant from the 1994/95 Steeples cycle enabled church leaders to conduct an overall assessment of the building and make critical envelope repairs.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Burke

People's Baptist Church
134 Camden Street, South End

Built as a Unitarian church in 1868 , the building now is home to the oldest African American congregation in the North, who moved here in 1915 from the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill.  Under the guidance of effective leadership, the church maintains its building well and expanded its infrastructure by acquiring and renovating an adjacent building from the Boston Redevelopment Authority as space for community services.

A 1996 grant from the Steeples Project helped to fund a comprehensive assessment of the steeple and begin repairs to the structure.  The removal of a galvanized steel roof that was added to the steeple in the 1940s revealed the original polychromatic slate roof, which is being restored with the help of a 1998 Steeples Project grant.

The church and its ancillary building house numerous social programs, including an outreach and tutoring program for school children, a food pantry, substance abuse counseling, a seniors group, and clothing distribution to the homeless.

Roxbury Presbyterian Church
328 Warren Street, Roxbury

This Victorian Gothic church was built in 1891 of rough-hewn Roxbury puddingstone.  Robert and John Gilchrist, brothers who founded Gilchrist Department Store in downtown Boston, provided half the funds needed for construction.

The structure is prominently sited and its coherent grouping of tower, spire, polygonal slate roofs and porches makes a powerful statement.  An active neighborhood presence, the church has operated a food pantry for fifteen years and provides various counseling programs, including one of the city's largest Alcoholics Anonymous groups.

In 1991, staff from Historic Boston first inspected the building and discovered extensive woodwork, masonry, and flashing problems from lack of maintenance and funds.   Hurricane Bob in 1991 also stripped the tower of some of its historic woodwork.

A $4,500 grant for technical assistance from the Steeples Project funded the preparation of plans and specifications for repairs to the steeple as well as a leaking roof.  These documents also formed the basis of a successful $50,000 funding proposal to the Massachusetts Historical Commission's Preservation Projects Fund and prompted the congregation on their own to take on the replacement of the roof.  A 1995/96 Steeples matching grant contributed $35,000 toward major repairs to the tower and the restoration of its carved architectural woodwork.