First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist - Northborough, MA
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neoc1
N 42° 19.325 W 071° 38.767
19T E 281956 N 4688929
The Colonial Revival style First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist is located at 40 Church Street in Northborough, MA
Waymark Code: WM16NWV
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 09/06/2022
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Unitarianism is a theological movement whose fundamental tenet is the belief that God is a single person as opposed to the more prevalent Christian dogma that God is a Trinity composed of the God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Unitarians believe that the teachings of Jesus were inspired by this singular God and Jesus is not an incarnated deity. In the United States, the Unitarian theology began in Boston, MA in 1784 and spread from New England. Many prominent Americans were Unitarians, including Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft; also poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and women's rights leader Susan B. Anthony. (
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The first Unitarian Church was erected in Northborough in 1746. Their second church was built in 1809. The 1809 structure was destroyed by fire in 1945. The present church, which is a copy of the second church, was built in 1950. The Colonial Revival style church was designed by architectural firm of Perry, Shaw and Hepburn.
The church has a three bay wide projecting entrance façade that is one bay deep with four by six double hung windows on the lower and upper levels. Four Doric piasters separate the bays. A set of steps leading up to a set of three red doors. The central door has a gable above a fan window. The second level has a central Palladian window flanked by four by six double hung windows. The pediment has a semicircular red shutter.
Rising from the apex of the gable roof is a three tiered steeple. The lower section is a square four-sided clock tower with pinnacles on the four corners. The middle section is a belfry with louvered windows rounded on top. The upper section is a hexagonal cupola with louvered windows rounded on top. The dome of the cupola has a weather vane.
The main block is five bays deep. The east side has have four by six double hung windows at each bay. The west side has and auxiliary entrance at the fifth bay. The remaining bays have four by six double hung windows.