Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 03/02/1971
NRHP Listing Date 07/02/1971
NRHP Reference Number 71000974
The influence of Thomas Jefferson’s interpretation of classical architecture is demonstrated in numerous Piedmont buildings erected by master carpenters and masons he had employed at the University of Virginia. No more engaging example of the Jeffersonian idiom survives than this small but sophisticated country church erected in 1831-32 in southern Albemarle County. Called by Bishop William Meade a “neat and excellent brick church,” the building is the work of William B. Phillips, a Jeffersonian workman who designed and built a variety of houses and public buildings in his mentor’s mode. A hallmark of Phillips’s buildings is his near flawless Flemish-bond brickwork, especially conspicuous at Christ Church. Phillips’s mastery of the classical vocabulary is evident in the academically correct Doric entablature and in the temple-form proportions of the building itself. The Albemarle County church continues to serve the active St. Anne’s Parish.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: July 27, 2022
