Old South Meeting House

History

The Old South Meeting House is a museum and historic church building at 310 Washington Street, on the corner with Milk Street, in the Downtown Crossing area of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Built in 1729, the meeting house originally hosted the Congregational congregation of the Old South Church. It was the organizing point for the 1773 Boston Tea Party and later became a free speech symbol for its role as a pre–American Revolution meeting house. The building has served as a museum since 1877 and is operated by Revolutionary Spaces. One of the landmarks on Boston's Freedom Trail, the Old South Meeting House is designated a National Historic Landmark and a Boston Landmark. It is also part of the Boston National Historical Park.

The Old South Meeting House, designed by Robert Twelves and built by Joshua Blanchard, replaced the congregation's first building, the 1669 Cedar Meeting House. It hosted religious services alongside town meetings and speeches, functioning as an overflow space for town meetings too large for Faneuil Hall. In 1775, British troops occupied the interior and gutted it, turning the interior into a horse-riding facility. The interior was rebuilt in 1783, and the building was modified several times in the 19th century. The congregation used the Old South Meeting House until the Great Boston Fire of 1872 and moved to its Copley Square building in 1875.

The old building temporarily served as a post office after the 1872 fire and, following lengthy legal disputes, was sold for scrap in 1876. A group of citizens organized to buy the site and building in what was one of the area's first successful preservation movements. The Old South Association (OSA) took over the building, operating it as a museum. The building underwent additional renovations from the late 19th century onward, including an 1898–1914 overhaul designed by Bigelow and Wadsworth. The pews were reproduced in 1947, the exhibits were overhauled in 1987, and a basement was built during a 1990s renovation. Revolutionary Spaces took over operations in 2020.

The Old South Meeting House is one of the few remaining New England meeting houses with a Georgian exterior and a traditional meeting house–style interior. The building has a mostly rectangular plan with a brick facade. The main entrance is on Washington Street to the west, where there is a protruding tower with a steeple. The rest of the building is two stories high, with large windows and a combination hipped and gable roof. Inside is a square meeting hall with replica pews, a pulpit, and a balcony-level upper gallery. The meeting hall is arranged symmetrically around a secondary entrance on Milk Street, placing the main entrance through the side. Although the building has received mixed architectural reviews, commentators have described its history as highly significant.

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