First Church of Christ, Scientist (Madison, Wisconsin)

The former First Church of Christ Scientist, is an historic Christian Science church building located at 315 Wisconsin Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Built in 1929, it was designed in the Classical Revival-style by noted Madison architect Frank M. Riley. In 1982 the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Mary Baker Eddy organized the first Christian Scientist congregation in Boston in 1879. Members of the sect began to organize in Madison about five years later, in the mid 1880s. They initially met informally in members' homes, but in 1895 they formally organized and began to meet in the Gates of Heaven Synagogue on West Washington. With more growth, the congregation shifted meetings to the Women's Building. In 1912 the congregation bought the lot where the church now stands. It was the former home of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice J.H. Carpenter, and they started a reading room in his house. In 1918 a group broke off from the congregation and formed Second Church of Christ Scientist in Madison, meeting at 263 Langdon Street, but in 1927 they merged back together. In 1929 the reunited congregation finally built the church at 315 Wisconsin - the subject of this article. Many of Madison's historic churches were on the same avenue, before lack of parking forced them to other locations. They hired Frank Morris Riley, a prominent Madison archi

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