July 2001

Church of the Covenant on Newbury Street

Church of the Covenant on Newbury Street

The Church of the Covenant (a merger of Central Congregational Church and First Presbyterian Church) is a Boston, Massachusetts, landmark, built in 1865-1867 by the Central Congregational Church and now affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ.

Built of Roxbury puddingstone in Gothic Revival style it was one of the first churches to relocate in the new Back Bay and was built largely with funds donated by Benjamin E. Bates, an industrialist who founded Bates College.[1] Designed by Richard M. Upjohn, the son and partner of Richard Upjohn, who insisted on "a high gothic edifice ... which no ordinary dwelling house would overtop." It has a 240-foot high steeple, that overtops the Bunker Hill Monument. Oliver Wendell Holmes said: "We have one steeple in Boston that to my eyes seems absolutely perfect--that of the Central Church on the corner of Newbury and Berkeley Streets." In the 1890s the sanctuary was redecorated by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Co. with stained-glass windows and mosaics and an electric-light chandelier designed by Tiffany's Jacob Adolphus Holzer for the World's Columbian Exhibition, Chicago, 1893.

The Church of the Covenant is located at 67 Newbury Street. It was known as the "Central Church" until 1932 when the Central Congregational Church merged with the First Presbyterian Church of Boston creating the Church of the Covenant, which is now affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ.

Photo 41, April 2012