BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
FORM B - BUILDING - MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, State House, Boston - - - - - - - - 2. Photo (3x3" or 3x5") Staple to left side of form Photo number 1093.2IA 1 - - 4. Ma in : oth 16 HARVARD (over) AS3E3SOR#107-26 30M-5-77 In Area no. MID CAMB. Formno. II C 4 1. Town Cambridge Address_99 Prospect Street. Name Prospect Congregational Church Present use _religious structure _- church Present owner Prospect Congregational Church 3. Description: Date 1851 Source deed records, local histors Style Traditional northeast meeting- house form with Norman and Romanes- ArchitectAlexander R. Esty que detail. Exterior wall fabric brick Outbuildings (describe) -- Other features round-headed. windows. decorated with carved zigzag patteri and colonnettes and capitals. Altered _Na Date =- Moved _No Date - 5.
Lot size: One acre or less Over one acre Approximate frontage 85' .Approximate distance of building from street 60' 6. Recorded by Robert Rettig Organization Cambridge Historical Comm Date 1968 UTM- BOSTON SOUTH 19/326810/4692540 7. Original owner (if known) Prospect Congregational Church Original usechurch Subsequent uses (if any) and dates_same 8. Themes (check as many as applicable) Aboriginal Agricultural Architectural The Arts Commerce Communication Community development Conservation Education Exploration/ settlement Industry Military Political Recreation Religion Seience/ invention Social/ humanitarian Transportation 9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above) XX The Prospect Congregational Church is architecturally unique for its use of Norman/Romanesque details many years before the style was popularized by Henry Hobson Richardson.
Despite its overlay of medieval details, the Prospect Congregational Church for the most part retains the form and composition of a traditional New England church: a long rectangular box with a gable roof and projecting four-story. entrance pavilion. Its Romanesque ornament included round-". . headed windows. The structural and spatial characteristics of medieval Romanesque architecture were unknown to mid- nineteenth century American architects, who simply embellished the Iamillar New England meetinghouse with Romanesque motifs. The architect of the church was Alexander R. Esty, a Boston architect active from the 1850s to the 1870s, and Baptist Church (1867). In 1879 the parish hall at the rear of the Prospect Chuch was extended by the architect Thomas Silloway, whose other work included the plans for the rebuilding of the Vermont State House.
The church was built to serve the growing population of mid-Cambridge. Although technically in the mid-Cambridge area, the congregation has always been Cambridgeport oriented. It originated as the Evangelical Congregational Society of Cambridgeport. 10. Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records, early maps, etc.) NOV 1 4 1980 NPS Form 10-900-a (7-81) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Continuation sheet Item number For NPS use only received date entered Page /0 1/7 Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name State Cambridge Multiple Resource Area MA Nomination/Type of Review 91. cummings, e. e., House Substanilve Herler. Keeper. Date/Signature PonurlisDogd6309 Sulistiestira Kovion 92.
Jivinity Hal1DOE/OWNER OBJECTION Keeper abpetion withar Subs Attest Attest 93. North Avenue Congregational Church Keeper Patucke Andurs 9/12/84 Batht. Savase 11nl. Bre febog l 6.709. Attest *94. Prospect Congregational Church Keeper Substantiva Keview Iulias A.Aravnam 4.13-82 Attest ~95. University Museum wore abfeteon YOWNER OF withdean TION 96. Old Cambridge Baptist Church Keeper Attest Patick Indur a/2/086 Berint Soogge Keeper Wielas /t.Bravhom 4.13.82 Attest :9T. XWare Hall Keeper pae prpel6.. Attest 98. Cambridge Public Library Keeper Wiekeam H.Bracham 4.13.82 Attest ,99.% Church of the New Jerusalem Subatantive RevtewKeeper Faruar hai Drng l 6:3088 "100.
Arostantire Nevio Busch-Reischinger House DOEZOWNER OBJECTION Attest Keeper Attest 6/10 82 Haward 4N:4 SNASTANNOLREGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION / RETURN SHEET Prospect Congregutional Chunch Property: CAmbredge Rultple Resource ARla) State, County: 11A-nuddlesex Federal Agency: United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Working No. //-14-80-2862 Fed. Reg. Date:- Date Due:_ 4/17/82 Action: ACCEPT_ 4/13/82 resubmission - RETURN - nomination by person or local government - REJECT_ owner objection photos_1 appeal maps - Substantive Review: sample - request - appeal - NR decision Reviewer's comments: Locally significant fo acclitecture fi its caly employment of Romanesque Reirval ornamentation Recom. /Criteria luegt - C Reviewer tatrick Anduus Discipline Historian Date_3/12/82 - see, continuation sheet WHB -Nomination returned for: 1. Name 2. Location 3.
Classification Category Oenership Public Acquisition 4. Owner of Property Status Accossibie Prosont Use 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys has thia property been derermined eligtbte? technical corrections cited below _ substantive reasons discussed below - 7. Description Cendition excelient good teir deteriorated ruins .unexposed Chock one _ unaltered _altered Check one - original site - moved date serlbo the procemt and ertelnal (if known) plrysicel epp summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection 8.
Significance- Portod fareeus of SignificanceChack and hustity boier Spectfic dates Bulider Architect Ststament af Significance (in ene parepraph) summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of excepticn other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Acreaçe of nominated property Quecirengie nemo - UMT Feferences Yerbel beundery erscription and justification 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaiusiec signiticance of this property wtthin the etete is: netionai - Starte Btarte Mietonc Preservation Otticer Bignature darte Bitte 13. Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to.
Signed - Date- Phone: 202 272 -3504 Comments for any item may be continued on an ettached sheet reeeeateerr 1027 1093-21A NOV 1 4 1980 99 Prospect st. Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000275