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Transfiguration of Our Savior
Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church
Established, 1927
Built 1956-1964
Building History
Greek immigrants began arriving in Lowell in large numbers in the 1890s. In order to preserve their Greek heritage, the immigrants organized “The Washington-Acropolis Society” and a Greek minister was secured. The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church was built in 1906, but civil unrest in Greece in 1923 led some to leave the main church to establish the parish of Transfiguration of Our Savior.
The parish bought the Clark Street property in 1925 and erected a temporary basement church on the site, which was in use up until 1951. The church exterior was completed in 1956, and the pews and stained-glass windows were added in 1959. In 1964 the church was consecrated in a formal service.
The church building is Byzantine-styled in the shape of the Greek cross with four equal arms. The building has a front façade with two bell towers, each capped with a concrete domes. The interior of the nave, arms, and sanctuary have barrel vaulted ceilings decorated with bandings and the four barrel vaults meet at a groin vault.
The inside of the church is covered in mosaics which were imported from Italy and patched onto the ceiling of the church. Behind the sanctuary is a mosaic designed by Robert Andrews of Pembroke in 1963 and depicts prophets and Mary and the Christ Child. A wooden iconostasis separates the congregation from the altar, and holds icons “written” in the Byzantine style by Demetrios Dukas of Lynn.