An Artful Move for An Old Church

From Dave Brigham:

I remember walking through Porter Square in Cambridge, Mass., several years ago and seeing a church that had been jacked up and was being prepared to move. As it turns out, the house of worship wasn't going very far, but this also wasn't the first time the place had gone mobile.

Born in 1845 as the Old Cambridge Baptist Church on Kirkland Street, near Harvard Square, the building was sold to another congregation in 1866, and moved north up Massachusetts Avenue the following year, per Wikipedia. The church then became known as the North Avenue Congregational Church.

I noticed the church over the years as I traveled through Cambridge, but didn't think much of it. But when I saw it back in late 2013, raised up on a grid of steel girders, I sure as hell took note. I wasn't sure where the church was going. Turns out it moved about 100 feet south, as Lesley University, which acquired the building in 2006, had plans to include the building in a new arts center.

Here's what the place looks like today.

To the left is the newer construction designed by Bruner/Cott & Associates (click this link for loads of cool interior and exterior photos). Now known as the Lunder Arts Center, this combined building takes the place of Lesley's former arts facility, which was located in Boston's Kenmore Square (see August 13, 2019, "More Random Shots of Kenmore Square").

I was happy to see the stained glass windows were restored.

This one says:

IN MEMORIAM

ALLEN H. BLAKE

1881-1941