Newly restored architectural lights delineating the facade of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Reading Room at 23 Church St., Cambridge, turn the 1936 Harvard Square storefront into a dazzling midnight vision of Depression era Art Deco.
The restored lighting, which debuted Nov. 7, was created by Poyant, a New Bedford sign design and fabrication firm. The LED lighting is said to be identical in appearance to the original, while utilizing modern tech.
Built by architect William Lawrence Galvin (1902 – 1983) in 1936 for the Cambridge Gas and Electric Light Company, it opened that October as a showroom for “the newest automatic ranges automatic refrigerators,” heating equipment, lamps, and a “model modern kitchen.”
The “ultra modern interior and a delightfully beautiful exterior” made the company showroom and offices “one of the most beautiful buildings in all of Cambridge,” a local newspaper proclaimed.
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Cambridge, bought the building in 1947, using part as a Christian Science Reading Room (still there today) and the other side rented out for retail shops.
23 Church St. is now home to Rodney’s Bookstore and the Reading Room. Harvard Square Business Association reports, “In 2015, Charles Sullivan, executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, revealed that lights previously adorned the façade of 23 Church Street. In 2022, the commission awarded the church a grant to restore the outside of the building, including the installation of new lights.”
The restoration removed awnings to reveal the vintage dramatic curving streamline stripes of the facade. Almada Restoration restored the facade. RB Farina repaired the roof. Kuik Electrical designed and constructed the circuitry powering the lights.
An advertisement for the 1936 opening: “Be sure to see the ‘Electric Pig’ with the Enormous Appetite which eats anything and everything.” The Electric Pig seems to be long gone.
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