Built 1838 NRHP Reference # 86002078 Area 404.7 m² | MPS Cambridge MRA Opened 1838 Added to NRHP 12 September 1986 | |
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Architectural style Greek Revival architecture Similar Divinity Hall - Harvard, Memorial Church of Harvard, Church of the New Jerusalem, Adolphus Busch Hall, Semitic Museum | ||
The Treadwell-Sparks House is an historic house at 21 Kirkland Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts owned by Harvard University.
History
The house was built, originally facing Quincy Street, in 1838 by housewright William Saunders for Harvard Professor Daniel Treadwell. Its square plan and three-bay facade was stylistically innovative for the period, with flushboarded walls and wide pilasters dividing the bays. The house was purchased in 1848 by Nathaniel Silsbee for his daughter, who was married to historian Jared Sparks.
The house was purchased from Sparks' heirs by the New Church Theological School and served as the New England training center for Swedenborgian ministers. In 1901 Langford Warren, architect and member of the General Convention of the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian), designed and oversaw the construction of a chapel, rotating the house and moving it a short distance on its lot.
In the 1960s, the building was sold back to Harvard and the New Church Theological School moved to Newton, MA. The structure was moved in 1968 from its original site at 48 Quincy Street to its current location at 21 Kirkland Street in order to make room for the construction of Gund Hall. The house also serves as the private residence of Harvard University's Plummer Professor of Christian Morals.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.