Trinity Church
H. H. Richardson’s masterpiece: in 1885 architects named it the finest building in the US
The story
Before you is Trinity Church on Copley Square. The parish has existed since 1733, and this is its third building. The first two stood downtown. In 1869 Phillips Brooks, one of the best-known preachers in America, became rector. He persuaded the parish to move to the Back Bay, a new neighborhood built on a filled-in salt marsh. The land here had already been bought when the Great Boston Fire of 1872 destroyed the old church. The new one was built by the architect Henry Hobson Richardson between 1872 and 1877, and it made his name. Brooks and Richardson wanted a “color church.” The painter John La Farge and his team were asked to decorate it. La Farge also made several stained-glass windows, layering opalescent glass in a new way. The ground here is former swamp. So the church stands on some four and a half thousand wooden piles, and groundwater must keep them wet all the time, or they will rot. In 1885 American architects voted Trinity Church the finest building in the country. When the poll was repeated in 1986, it was the only building from the old top ten still on the list. It is a National Historic Landmark. Since the 1970s, the glass Hancock Tower has stood beside it.
Visiting
Copley Square, Copley subway station. Enter through the West Porch facing the square. Visits are ticketed, with an entrance fee; tickets are sold at the Welcome Desk in the narthex, with an audio guide and guided tours. Hours change, so check trinitychurchboston.org or call +1 617-536-0944, extension 102.
Photos
Sources
- Trinity Church Boston — History
- Trinity Church Boston — Tours
- Wikipedia (EN) — Trinity Church (Boston)
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