First Baptist Church, Baptist church building in Central Square, Cambridge.
First Baptist Church is a church building in Central Square, Cambridge, constructed in 1881 in Gothic Revival style. The structure displays red brick walls with sandstone accents, terra cotta ornaments, and a distinctive eight-sided slate tower at the northeast corner that holds the bell chamber and clock faces.
The Baptist congregation began in 1817 at James Hovey's home before outgrowing that space. The current building rose in 1881, designed by architects Hartwell and Richardson to serve the expanding community.
The church serves as an anchor in the Central Square Historic District, showing how religious communities shaped Cambridge's urban center. People pass by daily and the building creates a sense of continuity with the neighborhood's past.
The building occupies a corner location between River Street, Green Street, Magazine Street, and Franklin Street with easy access from Central Square. The trapezoidal lot shape means multiple entrance points make approaching the structure straightforward from different directions.
The tower on the northeast side features an open bell chamber with pointed-arch window openings that create visual interest in the slate roof. These architectural details remain easy to miss when passing by but become striking when viewed from the right angle.
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