Old North Church

National Historic Landmark
National Register Listing

Boston, Massachusetts

Implementation of our Master Plan for the Old North Church began with a three-part construction program. Work was performed in the tower entrance vestibule, the lower study room above and in the tombs below the vestry.

Upstairs, within the tower, a former organ pump room and office have been renovated into an archival library with built-in storage and work areas. New lighting, heating and finishes have been installed and the large Palladian windows restored.

Under the church vestry and office, a new Columbarium has been created, thus reestablishing the Old North tradition of in-church burial which had been discontinued for over a century. With 720 niches to receive cremated remains, the Columbarium is located adjacent to two mass graves originally constructed just outside the church's walls. Access is provided to the church undercroft where marked burial vaults of the 18th and 19th centuries are located.

Photography: Wayne Soverns, Jr.





Columbarium: Old North Church.



The columbarium is a cross-axial plan with a focus to each axis. The garden entrance faces the stone foundation wall of the apse of the church above. In the opposite axis, a platform of flowers faces an altar. The new custom-designed niches are faced with honed Vermont slate, attached with brass fasteners and accented with perimeter lighting. Names are engraved onto the slates and highlighted in gold. The traditionally detailed painted woodwork includes a latticed ceiling to obscure electrical, heating and sprinkler liens. The floor is slate with waterstruck brick.

Within the tower entrance vestibule, airtight sanctuary doors of wood and glass have replaced storefront airlock doors. The new doors (although glazed and painted) are designed as a matching pair to the original ca. 1805 mahogany doors which are swung into the sanctuary.






Plan of Columbarium: Old North Church.



Plan of Columbarium







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