First Church of Christ Scientist
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Ursuline Academy Performing Arts Center (First Church of Christ Scientist)
1912, Solon S. Beman. Van Buren St. and Pennsylvania Ave.
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Ursuline Academy Performing Arts Center (First Church of Christ Scientist) (W. Barksdale Maynard) -
Ursuline Academy Performing Arts Center (First Church of Christ Scientist) (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
The work of Chicago architect Beman attracted the attention of the founder of the Church of Christ Scientist, Mary Baker Eddy, at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. She hired him to build a Christian Science church in his native city, based upon the Fine Arts Building at the exposition. This, in turn, became the model for his subsequent churches across the nation. The Wilmington building, of limestone, used a favorite Beman device, a six-column pedimented Ionic portico—Delaware's finest example of this form. The classical interior is also noteworthy. The building has recently become part of Ursuline Academy, most of the campus of which is Gothic Revival by a Philadelphia architect (1927–1954, Paul Monaghan).
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Location: Wilmington, DelawareRegional Overviews:Architect:Styles:Materials:
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Citation
W. Barksdale Maynard, "Ursuline Academy Performing Arts Center (First Church of Christ Scientist)", [Wilmington, Delaware], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/DE-01-WL69.
Print Source
Buildings of Delaware, W. Barksdale Maynard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, 130-130.
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