Boston’s buildings often have a number of owners and different users over their long histories. Houses of worship shift and change as congregations grow and dwindle. People move to new neighborhoods or communities run out of money.

The Parker Memorial Building on Berkeley Street, also known as the Magna Building, hits all those points. To drive past it, you might think it is or was a synagogue. Despite the large Star of David window on its fourth floor, however, you would be wrong as it has had many incarnations over the years.

The Parker Memorial Building

The Parker Memorial Building was erected from 1872 – 1873 for the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Society of Boston, a Unitarian church founded by Rev. Theodore Parker. The congregation was gathered in 1845 so, “that the Rev. Theodore Parker shall have a chance to be heard in Boston.”

Rev. Theodore Parker

This inspirational man was a preacher, lecturer, and writer, a public intellectual, and a religious and social reformer. Both a radical transcendentalist, and an abolitionist preacher, he had enormous influence in Boston. Many books have been written about Rev. Parker, his philosophy and his advocacy of social reform. I will not attempt to summarize them here.

He preached first in the Melodeon for seven years, drawing huge crowds, before moving to the great Music Hall off Winter Street for another seven. He often packed that theater’s 3,000 seats and more.

Rev. Parker preached until 1859, when his health failed, and he died the following year. At the height of his power, the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Society was the largest church in Boston, with 7,000 members.

The Parker Memorial Meeting House

In 1873 the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Society of Boston constructed this building as the Parker Memorial Meeting House. Standing on the corner of Berkeley and Appleton Streets, it housed parish activities as well as the Parker Fraternity, a community social organization. It served a large congregation with a small core group running the parish.

Stereograph Image

The Star of David window symbolized an interest in bringing together the world’s religions.

The Architecture

Five stories high, the Magna Building presents an eye-catching façade. It has a mansard roof with a pronounced central pavilion and two exaggerated dormers projecting above the roofline. A large center window on the façade indicates a hall that originally filled the second and third floors. The second story has shouldered architraves above the windows, while the third floor holds groupings of round-arched windows.

After the Church

In 1889, the church disbanded and gave the Parker Memorial Meeting House in trust to the Benevolent Fraternity of Unitarian Churches. The church later moved but the Fraternity remained in the Memorial Building until around World War I.

Incised Line Decoration

Since then, the Parker Memorial Building has performed a variety of functions for different owners. These include:

• The Worcester Country Creamery
• A Jewish community center
• The British Naval and Military Veteran’s Association
• Magna Film Productions
• The Boston Tea Party dance hall
• Schools
• A bookstore

In the 1960s, The Boston Tea Party dance hall hosted a diverse mix of patrons who came to listen to music and be part of “a unique social scene.” With an international reputation as one of the the best place in Boston to hear rock and blues, the club presented major act like Led Zeppelin, The Velvet Underground, and B.B. King, as well as local acts such as The J. Geils Band.

A fire damaged the building in 1972 but the Boston Architectural Team renovated the building from 1974-1975. In 1981 it was adapted for residential use as condominiums with commercial space on the ground floor.

The Parker Memorial Building

Theodore Parker’s Tombstone

49 Berkeley Street
Corner of Berkeley and Appleton Streets

Rev. Parker’s views were radical and many criticized him for having been unnecessarily divisive and confrontational. Boston’s Unitarian leadership was hostile to him until the end.

When seriously ill, he sought refuge in Florence because of his friendship with the Brownings, Isa Blagden and F.P. Cobbe, but died scarcely a month following his arrival.

Unlike most Boston intellectuals of his day, who now reside in Mount Auburn or Forest Hills Cemeteries, Rev. Theodore Parker is buried in the English Cemetery in Florence, Italy.

His gravestone, with a portrait medallion by Joel T. Hart, bears in the inscription: THEODORE PARKER/ THE GREAT AMERICAN PREACHER/ BORN AT LEXINGTON MASSACHUSETTS/ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA/ AUGUST 24TH 1810/ DIED AT FLORENCE ITALY/ MAY 10 1860/ HIS NAME IS ENGRAVED IN MARBLE/ HIS VIRTUES IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE HE/ HELPED TO FREE FROM SLAVERY/ AND SUPERSTITION/.