A three-level condominium tucked inside a Brookline church built in the 1890s has hit the market for $1.25 million this month, and it comes with a feature no other unit in the building can claim: the only whole round window left in the entire structure. Unit 35 sits inside the former St. Mark's Methodist Church at 90 Park Street, a Romanesque Revival landmark that was carved into 20 separate homes decades after its congregation moved out.
According to The Boston Globe, the 1,163-square-foot unit spans three levels, with a bedroom and bathroom on the lower story, a living room, kitchen, and dining room on the main floor, and a primary bedroom and adjoining bath above it. A loft reached by ladder tops it off. The two-bedroom, two-bath home also includes original rosewood flooring, vaulted ceilings, and molded plaster details, along with a gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, marble baths, private laundry, separate storage, and two parking spaces, the Globe reports.
A Church Built for $160,000 in the 1890s
The congregation first assembled in Brookline in 1873 and later purchased 25,000 square feet of land at the corner of Vernon and Park streets, per the same account. They hired architect George A. Clough, who went on to design an 8,000-square-foot Romanesque Revival church that cost $160,000 to build. Clough designed the Suffolk County Courthouse, now known as the John Adams Courthouse.
The cornerstone was laid on April 9, 1892, but the finished sanctuary wasn't officially dedicated until 1896, per Wikipedia. Clough's design called for locally quarried variegated Brighton ledge stone, trimmed with gray Nova Scotia sandstone and heavy columns of Indiana limestone, giving the cruciform building its monumental, still-standing presence at Saint Mark's Square, just south of Judge Henry Crowley Park.
From Empty Sanctuary to 20 Homes
The congregation vacated the church in 1968, moving to facilities shared with two other Brookline congregations. Brookline residents saved the building from demolition, and it was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 — a timeline the Wikipedia entry on the church corroborates. HKT Architects later converted the sanctuary into condominiums, preserving the building's exterior architectural features and many interior details in the process.
Because HKT customized all 20 units inside the cruciform footprint, no two homes came out alike — layouts, window shapes, and finishes vary significantly from one condo to the next. Listing agent Sanda O'Brien told Boston.com that each unit in the building is different, and Unit 35's rose window underscores the point: it's the only whole round window left standing in the entire structure.
A Rose Window's Long, Damaged History
The church originally had two huge rose windows, but the front one was split down the middle when the building was divided, with its two halves belonging to separate condominiums, per the Globe. Unit 35's window escaped that fate and remains intact, with one large central round pane surrounded by seven smaller round panes. Some of those panes were damaged while the church stood empty for years, and others were broken during the construction that turned the sanctuary into housing. The window originally held stained glass; today it holds clear glass instead.
How the Price Stacks Up
Brookline's condo market has been climbing steadily. Average sale prices reached $1.38 million across 149 year-to-date sales in early 2026, a 13.2% jump over the previous year, according to data reported by Boston Realty Web. In 2025, sales volume across the town grew 9% to 461 closed deals, with the median condo price rising 8.2% to $940,000, per Amy Lipton Real Estate.
Listing data from this month shows Unit 35 carries monthly HOA fees of $671 and annual property taxes of $6,931, per Zillow. As of press time, the Globe reports the unit is already under contract, sitting just two blocks from Coolidge Corner's dining, shops, and cafés.
