National Register of Historic Places
Christ Church
Oyster Bay, Nassau County, New York
The record
- Listed
- November 9, 2018
- Type
- Historic district
- Address
- 61 E Main St., Oyster Bay
- County
- Nassau
- State
- New York
- Contributing resources
- 3 buildings, 1 site
- Coordinates
- 40.87251, -73.52762
- Reference number
- 100003115
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesLionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public LibraryDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesLionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public LibraryDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
Christ Church is a historic district at 61 E Main St. in Oyster Bay, Nassau County, listed in the National Register in 2018. It has three contributing buildings, a church, a parish hall and a church-related residence, and one contributing site, a churchyard. Its buildings display Federal and Gothic Revival detailing.
Why it's listed
Christ Church is listed under criteria A and C, with local-level significance in architecture, social history and art. Its period of significance runs from 1751 to 1968, anchored by Anna Doughty's burial in the churchyard in 1751 and the construction of the present church in 1878.
Physical character
The church has stone buttresses, Gothic lancet windows and hammer beam trusses, with a bellcote and octagonal cupola. Its walls mix variegated stone and shingle siding, with clapboard sections, brick and stone foundations, and slate roofs. Headstones in the churchyard carry carved death's-head and shoulder-shaped tympanum designs.
Historical context
The congregation was founded in 1705, and its churchyard land was set aside in 1710. Its first dedicated church, built in 1750, was damaged by Hessian troops in 1782 and 1783, and the remains were sold in 1801 for sixty-seven dollars. A new church built in 1844 on the same foundation was used until 1878, when the present church replaced it. Delano and Aldrich designed a Neo-Gothic stone update to the church carried out from 1926 to 1938, when Oliver Smith's stained-glass windows were installed.