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Ruggles Street Baptist Church

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1913–1914, Cram and Ferguson. 874–880 Beacon St.
  • Ruggles Street Baptist Church (Keith Morgan)

As originally envisioned by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1886, Audubon Circle was to be outlined with trees, which would continue up the center of Beacon Street. While Brookline planted its Beacon Street trees, Boston (where Audubon Circle is located), did not. The most prominent landmark on Audubon Circle is the Ruggles Street Baptist Church, erected as the Second Church in Boston (Unitarian). Known for their Gothic Revival–style Episcopal churches, Cram and Ferguson designed a Georgian Revival–style church for this post-Reformation denomination. Facing Park Drive, the nave of the church projects a richly detailed facade ornamented with pilasters supporting a pediment. Perpendicular to the nave with an entrance on Beacon Street extends a gambrel roof section designed for Sunday school classes and a ladies parlor. At the intersection of the two wings rises the tower, whose steeple was probably modeled on St. Giles-in-the-Fields in London (1731, Henry Fitcroft), in turn based on the more famous St. Martin-in-the-Fields by James Gibbs (1721–1726).

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

Beacon Street Development
Benjamin Fox at Audubon Circle
Boston University Photonics Center
Landmark Center (Sears, Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store)
Boston University Center for Computing and Data Sciences

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Ruggles Street Baptist Church", [Boston, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-FL32.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 195-196.

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