The Tabernacle Congregational Church atWashington and Federal streets in Salem, Massachusetts, was built in 1923 for one of the oldest congregations in the Commonwealth. The Tabernacle Churchs congregation traces its origins to the founding of the First Church of Salem in 1629. The church was originally located a few blocks away untila fire destroyed the wooden building in 1774. The congregation built a new wooden church on this site by 1777, and have remained on the site ever since the United States was established. The present, stone church building, was constructed from designs by the Boston firm ofPhilip Horton Smith and Edgar Walkerin 1922. This dignified and graceful Colonial Revival church building (with attached parish house) is the third ecclesiastical structure to stand on this site. It replaced a large wooden Italianate church which the parish occupied from 1854 until it was torn down in 1922. Its predecessor, which stood from 1776 to 1854, possessed an elegant three-stage tower whichSamuel McIntireadded in 1805.The Tabernacle Churchis a stone-veneered masonry building with a prominent engaged tower which contains a large arched entry, and a giant order porch consisting of four Tuscan columns and associated pilasters of the same type, which supports a pedimented roof that shelters the entrance. The tower is surmounted by a square, wood-frame belltower with pilastered corners above which is an open octagonal cupola with bell-cast roof. What a great Colonial Revival style church!