The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983,[4] and sold to Lesley University in 2006 subsequent to the movement of the congregation to Medford, Massachusetts.

[5] The university used the former church primarily as an auditorium and lecture hall space following its purchase until preparations for the Lunder Arts Center began.

[8] The building's simple, rectangular plan was originally four bays deep with a tall, multi-stage spire surmounting a projecting entrance portico; it then resembled Charles Bulfinch's New South Church in Boston (1814) though in Greek Revival form with Egyptian columns.

The original three-stage tower and spire, similar to that of the New South Church, was damaged in a storm, and in 1906 its upper two round stages and spire were replaced with a square belfry and a copper dome.

Today's eight-faceted spire was built in 1964 after the dome was struck by lightning and caught fire, and now only the pedimented first stage of the original steeple remains.