Several architects were involved in the design of the buildings on the Christian Science Plaza. The Original Edifice of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was completed in December 1894. Franklin Welch of Malden, Massachusetts, was the architect with a little last-minute help from Frederic R. Comstock of Hartford, Connecticut.
Charles Brigham of Boston was appointed architect for the Extension of The First Church of Christ, Scientist. Later Solon S. Beman of Chicago, Illinois, served in an advisory capacity. The Extension was completed, without its portico, in May 1906.
Construction of the Christian Science Publishing House, designed by architect Chester Lindsay Churchill, began in 1932 and was completed in 1934. During the height of the Great Depression, thousands of workers found employment on this building project. This neoclassical style building is the current home of The Mary Baker Eddy Library, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and The Christian Science Publishing Society, including The Christian Science Monitor.
In the early 1960s, the architectural firm of I. M. Pei (Araldo Cossutta, Architect) was engaged to design a complex, consisting of three additional structures—a twenty-eight-story administration building, a five-story Colonnade building, and a two-story, quarter-round Sunday School building, as well as a plaza and reflecting pool. The Extension of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was also completed, with the addition of a portico as the area in front of the church opened up. All of this work was completed by 1975.
