Pleasant View Home - Concord, NH - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

In 1891, Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science Church, named her new home Pleasant View because of the loveliness of its setting. Her will directed that the site serve as the location for a retirement community.

In the first year of use in 1927, the original Pleasant View attracted over 13,500 visitors. Within three years, Pleasant View was filled to capacity and faced a waiting list. In 1975, Pleasant View was sold to the State of New Hampshire who used the property for psychiatric patients. In 1981, the State vacated the premises. Two years later, Pleasant View was restored and returned to its original use: a privately operated retirement home.



The building, a large, early 20th century Georgian Revival, was constructed in 1925 to 1927 to plans prepared by Boston architect Arthur H. Bowditch. The main building is sited to take full advantage of open southern views. Situated on 48 acres in Concord, noted landscape architect Arthur A. Shurcliff of Boston laid out formal gardens in the rear and to the west of the main building. Though portions of the landscape design were re-executed in the 1950s by Hooksett, New Hampshire landscaper Leon Pearson, many of the original plantings and walks survive, including the primary walkway. A late 19th century cast iron fence with scrolled gates marked the entrance to Mary Baker Eddy’s former house on the site and still stands.



Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910)

While living at her "Pleasant View" home (1892 to 1908) once on this site, Mrs. Eddy founded the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass., headquarters of the Christian Science movement. From "Pleasant View," some six miles from her birthplace in Bow, she guided its worldwide activities and gained fame as a religious leader and writer. The buildings erected on this site in 1927 served as a home for retired Christian Science practitioners and nurses until 1975. The former Christian Science home, known as Pleasant View Home, was listed on the National Register in 1984.

Street address: 227 Pleasant St. Concord, NH United States 03301 County / Borough / Parish: Merrimack County Year listed: 1984 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1925-1949 Historic function: Domestic Current function: Commerce/Trade, Domestic Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   01/23/2019 YoSam. visited it