The Original Mother Church, designed by Franklin I. Welch, was completed in December 1894, eight years after the first Christian Science church, First Church of Christ, Scientist, was built by local women who felt they had been helped by the religion. Although fairly large for the time, the original church, a Romanesque Revivalstone structure, is often overlooked because it is dwarfed by the much larger domed Mother Church Extension. Designed to fit on a kite-shaped lot, the former features a 126-foot steeple and an octagonal auditorium that seats 900. It is built of granite from New Hampshire, Mary Baker Eddy's home state. Added in 1904–1906, the Mother Church Extension was originally designed by Charles Brigham, but was substantially modified by S. S. Beman, who took over construction in 1905 as a result of Brigham's illness. In particular, Beman minimized the Ottoman and Byzantine elements, bringing the domed structure in line with the Neoclassical style that Beman favored as most appropriate for Christian Science churches. It boasts one of the world's largest pipe organs, built in 1952 by the Aeolian-Skinner Company of Boston. The sanctuary, located on the second floor, seats around 3,000.
Beliefs and teachings
Christian science teaches that the truth is inspired by the Word of God and that sin or evil is non-existence. It teaches that Jesus Christ was the savior to atoned for human beings with divine love, enabling man's unity with God.
Christian Science Plaza
Designed in the 1960s by the firm I.M. Pei & Partners, the Christian Science Plaza along Huntington Avenue includes a large administration building, a colonnade, a reflecting pool and fountain, and Reflection Hall. The site is one of Boston's most recognizable sites and a popular tourist attraction. The Mary Baker Eddy Library is housed on the site in an 11-story structure originally built for the Christian Science Publishing Society. Constructed between 1932 and 1934, the neoclassical-style building with its Mapparium, a walk-through inside-out globe of the world in 1934, has become an historic landmark in Boston's Back Bay. Restoration of the library's 81,000-square foot portion of the building began in 1998, and the final renovation and additional construction were completed in 2002.
Branch churches
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, also known as The Mother Church, has branch churches around the world. In accordance with the Manual of The Mother Church, the Mother Church is the only Christian Science church to use the definite article in its title. Branch churches are named "First Church of Christ, Scientist", "Second Church of Christ, Scientist", and so on, followed by the name of the city, in the order in which they were built in that city. Carol Norton, a student of Eddy's, and a practitioner and teacher of Christian Science, described the relationship between the First Church of Christ, Scientist and its branch churches as similar to the relationship between the federal government of the United States and the individual states. In his short booklet entitled The Christian Science Movement, he states that branch churches are "congregational in government, and individual and independent in the conduct of their own affairs, yet all accept the Tenets of the Mother Church."
