Central Square Church

Client: Cambridge Community Fellowship Church
Location: Cambridge, MA
Size: 26,000 SF
Status: Ongoing phases since 2019

Historical Significance: Constructed in 1881, The First Baptist Church is a significant historical landmark in the City of Cambridge. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Challenge: Long term deferred maintenance resulted in significant deterioration of the historic building fabric and building systems, and the building was no longer occupiable. Wessling was challenged with developing a master plan for restoration and renovations to allow reuse of the building while working within limited available funds.

Project Scope:

  • Meetings with members of two congregations to review options for phased restoration and renovation to meet the needs of a merged congregation and the diverse population of Central Square, Cambridge.

  • Performed a thorough investigation of the entire building to document existing conditions.

  • Make recommendations for appropriate phased restoration and renovation of the exterior and interior.

  • Historic structures report included documentation for existing conditions, options for reuse strategies, building code evaluations of the existing structure, options for historically sensitive building code upgrades and prioritized budgets for restoration.

  • Documentation of phased restoration and renovations to preserve the building, make incremental improvements in the historic building enclosure as well as sensitive interior restoration and upgrades to provide needed functionality of the building to a growing congregation.

  • Review project scope with Cambridge Historical Commission and Massachusetts Historical Commission to satisfy preservation restrictions.