Christ Church, at Zero Garden Street in Cambridge, is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, and is a National Historic Landmark.

The congregation was founded in 1759 by members of the King's Chapel who lived in Cambridge to have a church closer to their homes and to provide Church of England services to students at Harvard College across Cambridge Common. The church's first Rector was East Apthorp, and most of the founding members lived along the near-by 'Tory Row', now called Brattle Street.

The church was designed by noted colonial era architect Peter Harrison, who also designed the King's Chapel in Boston. Its wooden frame rests on a granite foundation built from ballast stones from ships arriving at Boston Harbor. The church was originally finished in a sanded paint treatment to give the appearance of a traditional English stone church.

During the American Revolution Christ Church was attacked by dissenting colonials for its Tory leanings, but it was also the site of a prayer service which George and Martha Washington attended while quartered in the nearby mansion now known as the Longfellow National Historic Site. The church was closed, and its organ melted down for bullets during the Revolution.

Christ Church Cambridge
Zero Garden Street, Cambridge, MA

Episcopal

Photo 99, April 2012