Description of Historic Place

First Church of Christ, Scientist is a two-storey, brick, Second Renaissance Revival building. It is located on Germain Street within the Trinity Royal Preservation Area of the City of Saint John.

Heritage Value

First Church of Christ, Scientist is designated a Local Historic Place for its architecture and for its history as a place of worship.

Many of the buildings in the district of Germain Street were constructed in the latter part of the 19th century or early 20th century as all the older buildings were destroyed in the Great Saint John Fire of 1877. Long established as one of the wealthier areas in the City, Germain Street is known for its many fine residences, distinguished private organizations and stately architecture. Built in 1932, First Church of Christ, Scientist is a good example of Second Renaissance Revival institutional architecture from the rebuilding period in Saint John. It exhibits many classical features of this style such as large Roman arch window and door openings on the ground floor, a large cornice under a parapet and brick pilasters with sandstone capitals.

First Church of Christ, Scientist is also recognized for its history as a place of worship. By the late 1880’s, the concepts of this religion began spreading across Canada from the New England States. After purchasing a plot of land on the east corner of Germain and Queen streets in the early 1930’s, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, came to Saint John. By 1932, the church building was completed. Due to the ideas it propagated, the First Church of Christ, Scientist formed a unique religious movement that was not always embraced by the surrounding community. A church by-law forbidding the publication of congregational numbers makes it difficult to discern how popular the religion was in Saint John. It remained a part of the religious life of the City of Saint John for more than fifty years until the Saint John Construction Association purchased the building in 1983.

Source: Planning and Development Department - City of Saint John

Character-Defining Elements

The character defining elements that describe the Second Renaissance Revival architecture of the First Church of Christ, Scientist include:
- rectangular two-storey massing;
- brick extrior walls;
- brick parapet above the large cornice;
- Doric brick pilasters with sandstone capitals ;
- paired, six over one, vertical sliding rectangular windows along the second storey with sandstone lintels and sills;
- triple windows with multi-paned fanlights below sandstone Roman arches with pronounced keystones;
- off-centre main entrance with sandstone quoins, sandstone Roman arch with pronounced keystone, multi-paned fanlights and paired wood doors with glass panels.