GPS City GuideHartfordChrist Church Cathedral

Stop 13 of 30 · Hartford audio walking tour

Christ Church Cathedral

Downtown Hartford · 1820s · Early Gothic Revival Landmark

What you'll hear here: about 90 seconds on Christ Church Cathedral — how it came to be, who it mattered to, and what to look for while you're standing in front of it.

Christ Church Cathedral holds the corner at 955 Main Street in downtown Hartford. Built in the 1820s to a design by Ithiel Town, this brownstone is one of the earliest known examples of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It serves as the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut; the diocese's offices sit next door at 45 Church Street.

The cathedral reported 469 members in 2025 and 125 members in 2023, with no membership statistics reported in 2024 parochial reports. Plate and pledge income for the congregation in 2024 was $201,810 and the average Sunday attendance was 98. You are at the southwest corner of Church and Main Streets, surrounded by large-scale commercial buildings.

Notice the basically rectangular brownstone massing and the square tower centered at the eastern end. The main façade is divided into three sections by that tower; each section has a doorway set in a two-story Gothic-arched recess with a window above. The sides are five bays deep, with buttresses separating Gothic-arched windows.

Follow the square tower up, then trace the buttresses dividing the Gothic-arched windows along each side.

Where it is

Coordinates
41.76833, -72.67417
Area
Downtown Hartford
Era
1820s · Early Gothic Revival Landmark
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Three stops free. No account needed. The audio plays itself as you walk.