Three Colonial Churches

Christ Church completed in 1744. A steeple was added ten

years later. Contemporaries were in awe of the finished house of worship, one remarking that "it was the handsomest structure of the kind that I ever saw in any part of the world; uniting in the peculiar features of that species of architecture, the most elegant variety of forms, with

the most chaste simplicity of combination.”

Christ Church, 1727 Second & Marketarchitect unknown

Christ Church, interior

Saint Peter’s (1758)

Saint Peter’s 1758 Third & PineRobert Smith

Saint Peter’s, side

Saint Peter’s, back (Palladian window)

Saint Peter’s, interior

First Baptist Church in America, 1774

First Baptist Church, 1774 Providence, RIJoseph Brown

Colonial Baptist ChurchBelieved to be the first Baptist church in America, the Providence congregation, founded by Roger Williams, was organized in 1639. The meeting house, shown

here, was constructed in 1774-1775 from plans by architect Joseph Brown, after a design by James Gibbs. This church shows that some colonial Baptists had no

compunctions about erecting imposing church buildings.

First Baptist Church, 1774 Providence, RIJoseph Brown

entrance

baptistery

interior

No stained glass

Christ Church, interior

Warped column (no heat)

interior doorway detail (Georgian)