Christ Church

This church is a late gothic revival building featuring a red sandstone façade, gable roofs, and most notably an eighty-foot square tower. The church’s interior is notable for its detailed woodwork and beautiful stained glass windows. Christ Church has been a center of Anglo-Catholic worship since 1895 and continues its mission of active community service through ministries such as Community Soup Kitchen.

The current building has always been owned and occupied by the Society of Christ Church Parish since its construction in 1894 (2).

As early as July 1779, Tuttle Tavern stood at the current site of Christ Church and was owned by Eunice Tuttle (4). In newspaper clippings about Tuttle Tavern, it was noted that during the British Invasion of New Haven, British soldiers had cooked a meal at Tuttle Tavern (4). The City of New Haven map from 1812 features Tuttle Tavern directly adjacent to a public well and hay weighing station (3).

The building continues to be Tuttle Tavern until May 1835 when the building is advertised as “valuable real estate for sale” in a newspaper advertisement (4). According to city directories, Tuttle Tavern becomes Broadway Hotel owned by Charles S. Ackley at some point between 1835 and 1849. Clark Lum obtains ownership of Broadway Hotel in 1850 and the Lum family continues to run it until 1856 when the hotel is moved to Goffe Street and “The First Christ Church,” owned by Society of Christ Church Parish, is moved to the site. The Society of Christ Church Parish built “The Second Christ Church” on the site in 1859, and the current Christ Church building began construction in 1894.

The current building has always been owned and occupied by the Society of Christ Church Parish since its construction in 1894 (5). The church had two previous iterations, the “First Christ Church” and “Second Christ Church,” on the same site. Both were owned and operated by the Society of Christ Church Parish since 1854. While the current building was not constructed until 1894, the social history of the Society of Christ Church’s presence on Broadway dates back to 1854 when it opened its doors to the First Christ Church (1).

Since its early days, the church has had a complicated history with exclusion. Over time, however, the church’s decisions generally reflect efforts at inclusivity that continue to define its mission. In 1861 during a period of financial instability, it was proposed that pews in Christ Church would be available for rent only (5). However, the bishop at the time expressed strong intent on the “Free Church principle,” allowing those who could not afford to rent pews the opportunity to continue attending church services. It is important to note, however, that the Church did not always rule in favor of inclusion. In the 1880s, the Bishop declined women in the parish the ability to vote on the basis that the pronouns in the canon were masculine (5). Additionally, the history detailed in the book The Chronicle of Christ Church does not mention any people of color, and it is unclear when the church opened doors to non-white groups. In a more modern context, Christ Church now states that it “seeks to be an example of progressive Anglo-Catholicism” and “has long affirmed the role of women in the church’s ordained ministry, and is inclusive of all persons irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, social class, or any other differentiation” (1).

The Christ Church’s mission to “seek to ground people’s lives in the intentional worship of God and acts of service to the community” is echoed in the church’s ministries: St. Hilda’s House and Community Soup Kitchen (1). St. Hilda’s House was established in 1910, and the resident deaconesses served the children, poor, and orphaned until the 1970s. The ministry continues today as a group of young adults who serve the community with the same mission of the original deaconesses and their ministries. Community Soup Kitchen has been operating since 1978 and currently serves as New Haven’s primary soup kitchen five days a week. In an interview with a staff member at the Community Soup Kitchen, he states that everything about Christ Church, from the architecture to its ministries, reflect Catholic beliefs of community service, acceptance, and dedication to God’s mission in Jesus Christ. 

Christ Church sits at the intersection of Broadway and Elm St. in stark contrast to the commercial and residential buildings in the area. The surrounding landscape includes a stone memorial with a fence. The building is framed by two busy roads overlooks Broadway Triangle Park.

As New Haven has grown and the Broadway area has become a commercial district, Christ Church has encompassed a new role in urban ministry. Although surrounding Broadway stores and buildings cater to upper middle-class shoppers and students, Christ Church’s parish house runs Community Soup Kitchen five days a week and appears to be the only building in the area that serves low-income and/or homeless people of New Haven. It is clear that the nearby “Shops at Yale” actively alienate this population with large signs in the Broadway Triangle Park that read “It’s ok to say no to panhandling” and “Please report aggressive panhandling to the New Haven Police.”