Unitarian Universalist Church - Wakefield, MA
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neoc1
N 42° 30.311 W 071° 04.276
19T E 329822 N 4707947
The Italianate style Unitarian Universalist Church, a.k.a. the First Universalist Church, is located at 326 Main Street in Wakefield, MA.
Waymark Code: WM16BB0
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 06/21/2022
Views: 0
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 Universalist Church and Society was formed in 1813. Meetings were held in members homes until the present church building was built in 1836. In 1859 the style was substantially modified. A portico was removed, the church was enlarged, and the steeple was added so that the church now designed in the Italianate style.
The one bay wide entrance block projects from the main block of the church. Steps lead on to a entrance set within a rounded arch. Above the entrance is a palladian style triple window and a pediment. The main block has a gable roof. Flanking the projecting entrance are slender double windows with rounded tops.
Rising from the pediment and the gable roof is a three tiered steeple. The base of the steeple is a short square tower. Above the tower is a belfry with double arched louvered windows. At the top of the steeple is an octagonal cupola with rounded openings connected by a railing and topped by an octagonal dome.
The sides of the building are two levels high and five bays wide. The south side has an auxiliary entrance at the second bay and small rectangular windows on the other four bays. The upper level has large two by three six part windows. North side has matching windows and lacks the auxiliary entrance.