The First Church of Christ, Scientist
church building in Massachusetts, United States of America
The First Church of Christ, Scientist is the administrative headquarters and mother church of the Church of Christ, Scientist, also known as the Christian Science church. Christian Science was founded in the 19th century in Lynn, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy with the publication of her book Science and Health (1875).
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, is located in the 13.5-acre (55,000 m2) Christian Science Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts. The center is owned by the church and contains the Original Mother Church (1894); Mother Church Extension (1906); Christian Science Publishing House (1934), which houses the Mary Baker Eddy Library; Reflection Hall (1971); Administration Building (1972); and Colonnade Building (1972). There is also a reflecting pool and fountain.
History
The Original Mother Church was designed by Franklin I. Welch, and the cornerstone was laid on May 21, 1894. The church was completed in December 1894, eight years after the first Christian Science church, First Church of Christ, Scientist (Oconto, Wisconsin), was built by local women who felt they had been helped by the religion.
Although fairly large for the time, the original church, a Richardsonian Romanesque stone structure, is often overlooked as it is dwarfed by the much larger domed Mother Church Extension. Designed to fit on a kite-shaped lot, the former features a 126-foot (38 m) steeple and an octagonal auditorium that seats 900. It is built of granite from New Hampshire, Mary Baker Eddy's home state.
“The First Church of Christ, Scientist” enters the record as church building in Massachusetts, United States of America. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what First, Church and Christ can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“The First Church of Christ, Scientist” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, First, Church and Christ provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7734092. The Library of Congress control number is n50047069. Authority coordinates are 42.344, -71.085. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1875, 1894, 1906 and 1934.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The First Church of Christ, Scientist”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The First Church of Christ, Scientist primary sources, The First Church of Christ, Scientist archive and First research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The First Church of Christ, Scientist”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The First Church of Christ, Scientist” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.