Buildings of New England

Located at the corner of Washington Street and Welles Avenue, the Dorchester Temple Baptist Church was designed in 1889 by architect Arthur H. Vinal, as one of the best examples of a church designed in the Shingle Style in New England. The church began in 1886 as a mission church of the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston. At this time, Dorchester was a semi-rural area and would surge in development when the streetcars were electrified in the 1880s. With a rapidly developing neighborhood, the congregation here, purchased lots and hired Vinal to furnish plans for a house of worship. The church’s cornerstone was laid October 3, 1889, with the church membership numbering ninety-nine at that time. Membership would decline in the decades following WWII, and shifting racial and ethnic demographics in the neighborhood brought new members to worship here. The building was renamed as the Global Ministries Christian Church by the current congregation, who with the assistance of preservation grants, worked with Mills Whitaker architects to restore the iconic landmark. Specific details of the building stand out, including the stained glass windows, the belfry with bulbous form, and the arched openings with continuous shingled walls.