{"id":26830,"date":"2025-12-01T09:32:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T14:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=26830"},"modified":"2025-12-07T15:17:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T20:17:37","slug":"christian-science-art-deco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2025\/12\/01\/christian-science-art-deco\/","title":{"rendered":"Dazzling Light Restoration Of 1936 Art Deco Cambridge Storefront"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wow! You need to check this out in person: 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Newly
Newly restored facade of the 1936 First Church of Christ, Scientist, Reading Room at 23 Church St., Cambridge. Nov. 30, 2025. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Built by architect William Lawrence Galvin (1902 \u2013 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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 to a series of retail shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23 Church St. is now home to Rodney\u2019s Bookstore and the Reading Room. The Harvard Square Business Association reports<\/a>, “In 2015, Charles Sullivan, executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, revealed that lights previously adorned the fa\u00e7ade 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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Newly
Newly restored facade of the 1936 First Church of Christ, Scientist, Reading Room at 23 Church St., Cambridge. Nov. 30, 2025. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The restoration removed awnings to reveal the dramatic vintage curving streamline stripes of the facade, restored by Almada Restoration. RB Farina repaired the roof. Kuik Electrical designed and constructed the circuitry powering the lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An advertisement for the 1936 opening: “Be sure to see the ‘Electric Pig’ with the Enormous Appetite which eats anything and everything.” Sadly, the Electric Pig seems long gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9 Greg Cook 2025 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Newly
Newly restored facade of the 1936 First Church of Christ, Scientist, Reading Room at 23 Church St., Cambridge. Nov. 30, 2025. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"23
23 Church St., Cambridge, in 1936. (Cambridge Electric Light Co. collection, Cambridge Historical Commission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"23
23 Church St., Cambridge, in 1936. (Cambridge Electric Light Co. collection, Cambridge Historical Commission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wow! You need to check this out in person: 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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,115,582],"tags":[1335,1334,260],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26830"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26857,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26830\/revisions\/26857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}