Description of Historic Place

Christ Church Anglican National Historic Site of Canada is a mid-19th-century wooden church built in the Gothic Revival style. It is located in the small rural community of Maugerville, New Brunswick. The formal recognition consists of the building and the legal property boundary at the time of designation.

Heritage Value

Christ Church Anglican was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1990 because
- this church is a particularly successful interpretation in wood of the Ecclesiological phase of Gothic Revival architecture in Canada.

The heritage value of this site resides in the design, form and materials of the church, which illustrate the Ecclesiological phase of the Gothic Revival style of church architecture. This church was built in 1856 to serve as an example of an ecclesiologically correct Gothic Revival church realized in wood. Designed by diocesan architect Frank Wills under the supervision of Bishop John Medley, a strong proponent of the Ecclesiological movement, the church exemplifies the return to medieval Gothic forms in church architecture. Wills’ design successfully interprets the volumes and angularity of the Gothic Revival style in wood, a building material appropriate to the Canadian context. The church reflects ecclesiological principles in its medieval-inspired layout, the clear expression of interior components in exterior volumes, the respect for the inherent qualities of its building material, and the limited use of Gothic Revival style details. The simple, bold massing of the church and its limited sculptural detailing also reflect the adaptation of the Gothic Revival style to Canada’s frost-prone climate and limited pool of skilled labour.

Source: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, February 1990.

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements which relate to the heritage value of the site include:
- its ecclesiological Gothic Revival style, evident on the exterior in its compact rectangular massing under a steep, pitched roof with prominent tower, chancel, and north porch and steeple, and its Gothic Revival style detailing, including pointed-arch openings, label mouldings, and ornamental wooden corner buttresses;
- the clear expression of interior components in exterior volumes;
- its ecclesiologically correct interior layout, consisting of a clearly differentiated chancel, nave, and north porch with entrance;
- its simple Gothic Revival style interior and exterior decoration, in keeping with its Canadian context, wood materials, and status as a parish church.