Step into one of America's great buildings, a National Historic Landmark that stands today virtually unchanged since 1735. An architectural masterpiece, Christ Church is the finest and best preserved parish church from colonial Virginia. It is the only colonial church to retain its original high back pews and one of only two with its original triple-deck pulpit (community announcements were made from the bottom tier, the Gospel read from the middle tier, and the sermon given from the top tier). The church’s rubbed brick doorways are the finest of their type in the country. Other original features include the sash windows, sandstone trim, classical entablature, walnut altarpiece, oyster-shell plaster walls, and Purbeck stone pavers. The church has no heating or cooling and stands much as it did in 1735.
Christ Church was the gift of Robert “King” Carter, the wealthiest, most powerful planter of early eighteenth-century Virginia. Carter built Christ Church to replace a wooden church his father, John, had constructed on the site in 1670. Free, indentured, and enslaved craftsmen built the church, creating one of the most visually stunning buildings in eighteenth-century America.
More than three centuries after its construction, Christ Church continues to inspire. Welcome.
