You are here

Christ Church

-A A +A
c. 1712–1714, c. 1717, 1843, 1900, 1931. VA 33, Christ Church

Standing on the site of an earlier church is the third of three churches to serve Christ Church Parish, considered because of its location to be the “middle” church. The outer walls of this rectangular structure, laid up in Flemish bond, were constructed, or superintended, by Alexander Graves. Although his name or initials do not appear, bricks in the west tympanum of the modern vestibule indicate that John Hipkins did the carpentry and the glazing. Other initials also appear. The brickwork has been much repaired. The south and west walls contain the most original fabric. Evidence suggests that the church had an altar screen and rich appointments, but all were destroyed during disestablishment. The church was revived in the 1840s, and the interior dates essentially from the twentieth century. The nearby Christ Church School (founded 1921), a boys' preparatory school, uses it as a chapel. The original churchyard was smaller. The present walls, a gift of the Garden Club of America, date from 1942. Some especially fine tombstones, such as those of the Wormeley family, survive from the colonial period.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Richard Guy Wilson et al.
×

Data

What's Nearby

Citation

Richard Guy Wilson et al., "Christ Church", [, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-01-PE29.

Print Source

Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont, Richard Guy Wilson and contributors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 341-341.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,