United First Parish Church (Unitarian) of Quincy
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
The United First Parish Church,Quincy, Massachusetts
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Location	1306 Hancock Street,Quincy, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°15′4″N71°0′11″W / 42.25111°N 71.00306°W /42.25111; -71.00306
Built	1828
Architect	Parris, Alexander
Architectural style	Greek Revival
NRHP reference No.	70000734[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	December 30, 1970
Designated NHL	December 30, 1970

United First Parish Church is an AmericanUnitarian Universalist congregation inQuincy, Massachusetts, established as theparish church of Quincy in 1639. The current building was constructed in 1828 by Boston stonecutter Abner Joy to designs byAlexander Parris. It was designated aNational Historic Landmark on December 30, 1970, for its association with theAdams family, who funded its construction; four members of the family are buried there.

United First Parish Church is called theChurch of the Presidents because twoAmerican Presidents,John Adams andJohn Quincy Adams, attended the church along with their wives,Abigail Adams andLouisa Catherine Adams. All four are buried beneath the church in a familycrypt.Pew number 54, used by John Quincy Adams and his family, is marked with a plaque and ribbon on the side.

The congregation first gathered in 1636 as a branch of the church inBoston, becoming an independent church in 1639, known simply as "Ye Church of Braintry," because the whole area was then known asBraintree. It was aPuritanCongregationalist church when first established. In the mid-18th century it becameUnitarian, and thenUnitarian Universalist in the 20th century.

The 1828 church is constructed of locally quarriedgranite, and is one of the finest Greek Revival church buildings in New England. It has a Greek temple front, supported by four monolithic granite columns which may have been the largest set in the United States at the time. Each column is 25 feet (7.6 m) tall and weighs an estimated 25 tons. Above the main facade rises a two-stage tower. Its lower section is oblong and unadorned, while the second stage is stepped back and square. It has clock faces on each side, and is topped by an open cupola with eight columns and a dome.^[2]

PresidentJohn Adams financed the church's construction through a land donation, and the bulk of the granite comes from the Adams familyquarry. However, the pillars are from another local quarry, as the Adams quarry was not deep enough for a full-height pillar. Its original bell was cast byPaul Revere, but was melted down and recast as it was not loud enough to serve as afire alarm. The unusual domed ceiling represents apassion flower surrounded bylotuses. The finemahogany altar is original.

Both John Adams and his sonJohn Quincy Adams, together with their first ladies,Abigail Adams andLouisa Catherine Adams, are buried in a family vault in the church's basement. Only one other church in the United States contains a presidential tomb: theWashington National Cathedral inWashington, D.C., where the remains of PresidentWoodrow Wilson and First LadyEdith Wilson are interred.

Since 2004, the United First Parish Church has hosted the Prison Book Program in the church basement. The origins of the PBP started in 1972, in the Red Book Store Collective in Cambridge, where it disseminated progressive literature, and advocated for the well being of prisoners. It was influential in creating a legal primer, and prison resource list that prisoners can request by letter, along with the other works of literature the PBP offers. The PBP is not associated with the UFPC and is a secular organization, however the UFPC supports the work the PBP does.^[3]

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  The church as depicted in a c. 1851–1854engraving
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  2005 view of the interior and its decorative plaster domed ceiling
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  View from gallery

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  Memorial tablet of John Adams
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  Memorial tablet of Abigail Adams
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  Memorial tablet of John Quincy Adams
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  Memorial Tablet of Louisa Adams
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  Dome of United First Parish Church
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  Memorial tablet of John and Abigail Adams
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  Memorial tablet of John Quincy and Louisa Adams
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  Memorial tablet of John Quincy
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  Memorial tablet of Charles Francis Adams

• Church of the Presidents, Long Branch, New Jersey
• Adams National Historical Park
• List of burial places of presidents and vice presidents of the United States
• List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Quincy, Massachusetts

Wikimedia Commons has media related toUnited First Parish Church (Unitarian) of Quincy.

• United First Parish Church website
• United First Parish Church (Unitarian) Of Quincy's National Historic Landmark summary description
• Historical records for the United First Parish Church are in the Andover-Harvard Theological Library atHarvard Divinity School inCambridge, Massachusetts.

• National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
• Churches in Quincy, Massachusetts
• Churches completed in 1827
• 19th-century Unitarian Universalist church buildings
• Unitarian Universalist churches in Massachusetts
• Religious organizations established in the 1630s
• Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
• Stone churches in Massachusetts
• National Register of Historic Places in Quincy, Massachusetts
• Presidential churches in the United States
• Adams National Historical Park
• 1639 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies
• Tombs of presidents of the United States

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• Articles using NRISref without a reference number
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