Quick facts
- Address: 2 Clarendon Street (2 Clarendon Square), Boston, MA 02116 — South End
- Originally: Clarendon Street Baptist Church, designed 1868 by architect S.J.F. Thayer (Gothic Revival)
- Reborn: Converted to condominiums in 1988 by Finegold Alexander + Associates after a 1981 fire
- Today: A boutique 60-residence luxury condominium across seven floors, pet-friendly, with elevator, garage parking, and a shared roof deck
- Status: Sits within Boston's South End Landmark District, the largest Victorian row-house district in the United States
Few South End addresses carry as much story per square foot as 2 Clarendon Street. What reads today as a distinctive boutique condominium — copper-trimmed gables rising above weathered brick, Gothic arches framing private entrances — was for more than a century a working church. The building is one of Boston's most successful examples of adaptive reuse, and it gives buyers something a new-construction tower simply cannot manufacture: a genuine sense of place.
From sanctuary to landmark: the Clarendon Street Baptist Church
The structure began life in 1868 as the Clarendon Street Baptist Church, designed by architect S.J.F. Thayer in the Gothic Revival style that defined ecclesiastical architecture of the era. Its walls were built largely of Roxbury puddingstone — the rugged conglomerate quarried locally and used in many of Boston's most enduring 19th-century buildings. A bell tower anchored the composition, and for generations the church stood as one of the spiritual landmarks of a young, fashionable neighborhood that had been created out of tidal flats through ambitious landfill projects in the mid-1800s.
The South End around it grew into block after block of red-brick bowfront row houses lining landscaped squares — a look so well preserved that the neighborhood is now recognized as the largest Victorian row-house district in the country.
The fire — and the fight to save the shell
In 1981, fire tore through the church and destroyed nearly everything but its exterior masonry walls. What was left was essentially a hollow stone shell in the heart of an increasingly desirable neighborhood. It would have been simpler, and probably cheaper, to clear the site entirely.
Instead, Boston's preservation community mobilized to keep the historic walls standing. The neighborhood had recently watched another fire-damaged church shell — the one that became the Church Court Condominiums in Back Bay — reborn rather than razed, and that precedent helped make the case here. Saving the shell meant the streetscape, and a piece of the South End's architectural memory, would survive.
A bold rebirth: the 1988 conversion
The challenge of resurrecting the building fell to architect James Alexander of Finegold Alexander + Associates, the firm responsible for the 1988 reconstruction. Rather than reproduce the lost church, the design inserted residences inside the surviving puddingstone perimeter walls, which had to be reinforced with new bearing walls to carry the loads.
Above the original masonry, the architects added gabled and dormered brick-and-copper volumes and reworked the building's frontal towers — a modern crown rising from a 19th-century base. Two of the residences were given their own private street entrances framed by the building's original Gothic arches, and the conversion preserved the unmistakable silhouette that still sets the building apart on Clarendon Street.
The result is admittedly eclectic — old stone meeting new copper — but that layered quality is precisely what makes it memorable.
What 2 Clarendon Square offers today
Renamed 2 Clarendon Square (and still affectionately called "the church at 2 Clarendon"), the building today houses 60 condominium homes across seven floors, served by an elevator and welcoming to pets. The total structure spans roughly 65,000 square feet.
Inside, you'll find a mix of well-proportioned one- and two-bedroom layouts. Residences typically feature:
- Premium cabinetry and stainless-steel appliances in renovated kitchens
- Hardwood flooring and generous ceiling heights
- Fireplaces in select units
- Walk-in closets and custom built-ins that make the most of every square foot
- In-unit laundry and central air conditioning
Shared amenities include a common roof deck with panoramic skyline views — a coveted feature in a neighborhood where private outdoor space comes at a premium — plus available garage parking, which is close to priceless in the South End.
Living at 2 Clarendon Street
Location is the building's quiet superpower. It sits right where the South End meets Tremont Street, the neighborhood's restaurant-and-gallery spine, putting residents steps from some of Boston's most celebrated dining. It also borders the South End's coveted Golden Triangle micro-neighborhood, and it's an easy walk to Back Bay, Copley Square, and the Mass Pike, Route 93, and the commuter rail and T for anyone heading out of the city.
For buyers, the appeal is straightforward. Converted-church condos like this one tend to trade at a more accessible price point than fully restored single-family brownstones nearby, while still delivering historic character, a boutique scale, and amenities — elevator, roof deck, parking — that many period row houses can't match. It's a way to own a piece of South End history without taking on a full townhouse renovation.
Frequently asked questions
What was 2 Clarendon Street before it was condos? It was the Clarendon Street Baptist Church, a Gothic Revival church designed in 1868. After a 1981 fire left only the exterior walls standing, the shell was preserved and converted into condominiums in 1988.
How many units are in 2 Clarendon Square? The building contains 60 residences across seven floors, with a mix of one- and two-bedroom layouts.
Does 2 Clarendon Street have parking and a roof deck? Yes. Garage parking is available, and residents share a common roof deck with skyline views. The building is also pet-friendly and has an elevator.
Is 2 Clarendon Street a historic building? Yes. It retains the original 1868 puddingstone walls and sits within Boston's South End Landmark District, recognized as the largest Victorian row-house district in the United States.
Thinking about buying or selling at 2 Clarendon Square or elsewhere in the South End? The team at Remmes & Co. knows Boston's historic buildings — and their current values — block by block. Reach out for a private consultation.