Built in 1888 in the Tudor Revival architecture. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1983. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church is an historic African Methodist Episcopal Church at 551 Warren Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The current church building was built in 1888 by J.”
Wikipedia article Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 206 National Register listings in Suffolk County · listed in 1983 · category: Building · built in 1888, Tudor Revival architecture, by J. Williams Beal · one of 5 National Historic Landmarks in Suffolk County.
National Register reference number.83000601- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
What happened here
An account from the chapter on Boston city, The inset identifies its exact
source book and publication year.
IN giving some notices of manners and social life during this period, I shall speak first of usages which were characteristic of the close of the last century: most of them continued without essential modification until our city charter swept away the old landmarks, and Boston felt the im¬ pulses which mark a new epoch in her history.
Illustrations: State House and the Monument (in 1811), 64; the Monument from the corner of Temple and Derne streets, 65 ; the Monument and the Thurston House, 65; Beacon Street and the Common (in 1804-1811), heliotype, 65; Boston from Breed's Hill (in 1791), 66; the Faneuil-Phillips House,
IN giving some notices of manners and social life during this period, I shall speak first of usages which were characteristic of the close of the last century: most of them continued without essential modification until our city charter swept away the old landmarks, and Boston felt the im¬ pulses which mark a new epoch in her history. It is difficult to deal justly with ways of living which are not widely different from those that surround us. We miss the salient contrasts which lend themselves to picturesque de¬ scription, and are tempted to look for exceptional occurrences to brighten a narrative, rather than for facts which are truly symptomatic of taste and thought. Were it possible to go back four-score years, or even a century, and mingle with those then conducting the town, we should not feel among strangers. In many respects their ways were counterparts of our own. In certain directions, indeed, we might note a narrowness of range and a contraction of outlook, while envying the vigor of speech and de¬ cisiveness of action which seemed the outcome of the limitations. When Massachusetts took her place in the sisterhood of States, the gigantic up¬ heaval of the French Revolution had not taken place. The prophets whom her capital was to raise up to demand the redemption of human society, each with his panacea for its sad ailments, had put in no appearance. The tyranny of England had been broken by an heroic effort, and any further redemption which society might need would be provided by those who VOL. iv. - i.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 67 fires within 5 miles of Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church between
2015 and 2020, burning about 47 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Recreation and ceremony
38
Smoking
13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
12
Equipment and vehicle use
2
Arson/incendiarism
2
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 16,238 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church between 1810 and
1975: 7,099 Plantae, 4,382 Fungi, 3,527 Animalia, 730 Chromista, 212 Protozoa, 202 Bacteria, 86 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, A B Seymour and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
10 workings within 5 miles of Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church: 7 plants, 2 past producers, 1 unknown.
7 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Lead, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gypsum-Anhydrite. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Boston, the town this property stands in, in 64 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 37 thunderstorm wind, 9 flash flood, 7 lightning, 7 flood.
The reports record 1 death and 9 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
A 50 year old man was struck by lightning while walking in an area known as the Sugar Bowl in South Boston. Lightning struck him in the head, passing through his back and exiting his feet. He collapsed in cardiac arrest and was revived and hospitalized for several days before dying from his injuries.
A 29 year old male and a 29 year old female were knocked unconscious when lightning struck them at Thomas Park, where the pair were watching the July 4th fireworks. They regained consciousness prior to the arrival of EMTs, but unable to feel their legs and were transported to Brigham and Women's Hospital.
In Boston, two cars were stuck in flood waters on Corey Road. Storrow Drive was closed due to flooding at the Mass Avenue and Longmeadow Bridges. Several other roadways in the city experienced significant flooding.
Numerous trees and wires and several utility poles were downed throughout Boston, including in Boston Common. Several trees were downed onto cars throughout town, though no injuries resulted. One tree was downed onto a building on Corey Road. The Automated Surface Observing System at Logan International Airport in Boston, MA (KBOS) recorded sustained wind speeds of 47 mph and wind gusts up to 68 mph.
Multiple trees and wires were downed throughout Boston, including on Barstow Street, Forrester Street, Washington Street, Houston Road, and Keith Street. Trees were downed onto cars on Forrester and Washington Streets. A portion of a chimney was blown over onto Keith Street.
The National Weather Service at Logan International Airport recorded a wind gust to 60 mph as a severe thunderstorm moved across the city of Boston. Scaffolding was blown down at government center and some large trees were blown down in Revere and Winthrop. One damaged a house in Winthrop and a tree limb and electrical wires fell onto an auto. The occupants of the auto were not injured.
At 546 PM EST, an amateur radio operator reported two trees down on Belden Street in the Upham's Corner section of Boston. Also, two trees were down on Hamlet Street including one down on three cars. A tree was down on Willis Street. A tree was down on wires on Taft Street.
At 3:26 PM EST, heavy rain caused the intersection of Lewis and Marginal Streets in East Boston to be flooded and impassable. At 3:36 PM EST a car was trapped in floodwaters at Clark and Stockton Streets in Chelsea. At 3:38 PM EST several cars were trapped in floodwaters on the McClellan Highway, Condor Street and Putnam Street in East Boston.
At 5:05 PM EST several cars on Child Street and Boynton Street were trapped in flood waters as high as the car doors. At 5:10 PM EST a car was trapped in flooding on Columbia Road at Bodwell Street, and Ceylon Street was impassable at Quincy Street due to flooding.
A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds onto a car at the intersection of Bakersfield and Stoughton Streets. Another tree was downed onto a car on Columbia Road.
8 papers published in this town,
digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 0 issues,
0 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be
looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
3,109 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
All Souls Unitarian Church in the Roxbury section of Boston is located at 551 Warren Street, in the acute angle formed by the intersection of Warren Street and Elm Hill Avenue. It is a short distance north of Franklin Park. The surrounding neighborhood largely retains the character of a late 19th century suburb with blocks of Mansard, Queen Anne and later Victorian single and double houses set back on small city lots. Architect J. Williams Beal designed All Souls in the Tudor style and carpenter Melzar W. Allen and mason Alfred Blight collaborated with him to create unusual architectural and decorative features. All Souls consists of the church proper and a Parish House by its side. The material is Roxbury Puddingstone, trimmed with Quincy granite. The interior is finished in cypress.
The building is L-shaped in plan, with the exterior sides of the I facing Warren Street and Elm Hill Avenue, the long arm running along the latter. For purposes of explanation, the narthex is on the Nend of the church, the apse on the S. The crenellated square tower with high, hipped roof and gargoyles is located on the NW corner, flanked by the gables of the W transept and the N front of the parish house, the latter appended to teee sert en f te L. The parish house also has a gable facing E, displaying considerable overhang; through it rises a large, tapering chimney, to emerge again from the roof. Between the parish house and the tower are situated the main entrance and narthex.
On the Wside of the narthex rises a small polygonal , peaked-roofed structure serving as the stair tower to the contiguous main tower.
(in one paragraph) Builder/Architect J. Williams Beal, architect Alfred Blight, mason Melzar W. Allen, carpenter The All Souls Unitarian Church retains its integrity of location, design, set- ting, materials and workmanship. The church, designed by Boston architect J. Williams Beal, was erected in 1888-9 by the Mount Pleasant Congregational Church, which took the name of All Souls upon the completion of the building. Parishioners, such as fire engine manufacturer William Cooper Hunneman, were members of Roxbury's nineteenth century merchant class. From 1929-1933 the church was owned by the Episcopal City Mission and occupied by St. Ansgarius Swedish Church (originally an East Boston congregation).
In 1939 the church was acquired by its present owner, the Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church. This congregation had owned the Charles Street Meeting House since 1876. During pre-Civil war days, at a location on Anderson Street, the congregation's services had been the scene of many stirring abolitionist meetings where William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Frederick Douglass and others led the fight against slavery./As the last black congregation on Beacon Hill, the move of the Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church to Roxbury reflected the decades long movement of Boston's black population from Beacon Hill to Roxbury and the changing population patterns in twentieth century Boston/ The first settlers in Roxbury had been English.
neighborhood's BBAAL multi-ethnic character began in the 19th century with the immigration of Irish and German workers before the Civil War, followed by Eastern European Jews and small groups of Scandinavians, Lithuanians and French Canadians. Afro-Americans began settling in Lower Roxbury in the early 20th century. As a building significant for its architectural excellence, its tradition and its history, All Souls Unitarian Church meets criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 83000601, 14 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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