Description of Historic Place

60 Victoria Street East, also known as Christ Church, is a modest, one-and–a-half storey Gothic Revival brick Anglican church tucked discreetly behind Victoria Square on the north side of Amherst, Nova Scotia's main street. The church has stood on this site since 1846, but was built circa 1825. The building and property are included in the municipal designation.

Heritage Value

Christ Church is valued as one of the oldest buildings in Amherst. It is also valued for its architectural design and for its unique vernacular interpretation of the crucifix floor plan. Also valued are the two styles of brick bond that were used in its construction. The red brick Gothic church is one of a cluster of stone and brick buildings erected in this downtown area of Amherst at the turn of the twentieth century, and is valued as being part of this unique Maritime streetscape.

Historical Value: About 1825, the Anglican community had builder George Revelle erect a brick church in the area now called West Amherst. The town gradually spread eastward, so in 1846, the church was dismantled and reassembled on its present site, which is about three kilometers east of its original location. Bricks from the original building were incorporated into the walls of the new church.

Architectural Value: This modest church is relatively unadorned except for its stained glass windows and distinctive Gothic Revival features, specifically the slightly-pointed arches over the doors and windows, the height of the gables, the steeply-pitched roof surfaces, and the tall narrow lancet windows. P. W. St.George designed a unique five-sided chancel that was added to the east end of the existing structure in 1877. This distinctive bay has a five-sided sloped roof, and each surface of the roof has a narrow gothic dormer with a lancet window extending down into the chancel wall. The chancel and the other wings of the church create its unique vernacular interpretation of the crucifix floor plan. Also of note are the two styles of brick bond used in the church's construction.

Source: “Heritage Properties Amherst, 60 Victoria East” File, Cumberland County Museum

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of 60 Victoria Street East include:

- vernacular crucifix floor plan;
- original size and massing;
- construction of red brick using two styles of brick bond, Flemish and Stretcher;
- five-sided chancel;
- location in Amherst's downtown core.

Character-defining Gothic Revival elements of 60 Victoria East Street include:

- one-and-a half storeys;
- slightly-pointed arch over windows and doorways;
- lancet windows;
- tall, narrow dormers and gables;
- steeply pitched roof.