Architect Arthur Rotch's sister Annie led the efforts to build this church in memory of their father, Benjamin Rotch, originally a New Bedford Quaker. Although the Rotches lived across the river in Milton, they acquired a relatively inexpensive undeveloped site in the Mattapan section of Dorchester. The massive shingled tower, with rows of great louvered vents that impart an oriental flavor to the design, dominates the Latin cross plan, constructed of local puddingstone with half-timbering in the gable ends. Frederic Crowninshield, later director of the American Academy in Rome, designed the stained glass windows in the apse. Ralph Adams Cram, a draftsman in the Rotch and Tilden office at the time of the original construction, was hired to design the parish hall in 1909.