Christian Science Publishing Society Building
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Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity (Christian Science Publishing Society Building)
1932–1934, Churchill, Lindsay and Churchill; 2000–2002, Ann Beha Architects. 200 Massachusetts Ave.
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(Photograph by Robert S. Salzar) -
(Photograph by Robert S. Salzar)
Designed to contain the works of the founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910), the library allows scholars and the public for the first time to consult her personal papers, correspondence, and related documents as well as Eddy's most well-known books, such as Science and Health with Keys to the Scriptures (1875). Cited as the largest single collection devoted to a nineteenth-century woman, the new resource is modeled on presidential libraries, with their holdings of memorabilia and archival materials in addition to spaces for multimedia exhibitions and conferences. Housed in the old Publishing Society Building (1934), the world headquarters of the Christian Science Monitor, whose unique walk-through globe, the Maparium, highlights the extent of the church's empire, the library is part of the Beha firm's renovation program of the Mother Church complex. The high limestone wall along Massachusetts Avenue has been cut away, leaving an arched gateway to a fountain-filled courtyard and a glass-wall entrance, thereby making a more open gesture of the institution to the street.
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Data
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Location: Boston, MassachusettsRegional Overviews:Architect:Styles:no metadata availableMaterials:
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Citation
Keith N. Morgan, "Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity (Christian Science Publishing Society Building)", [Boston, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-BB88.
Print Source
Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 180-180.
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