Christ Church Cathedral

On the corner of Ninth Avenue North and Broadway, you’ll find Christ Church Cathedral, a congregation that dates back nearly two hundred years. In June 1829, the congregation elected the first Vestry of Christ Church and a little over a year later laid the cornerstone of the first Episcopal church structure in Tennessee, located at the corner of Church Street and Sixth Avenue North, formerly Spring and North High Street. The building was fortunate to escape occupation by Federal troops during the Civil War. Continued growth after the war led the parishioners to purchase its current location for a new building in 1883, and by 1888 they began holding services in a newly constructed chapel at the site until the current church was completed.

The Gothic Revival Christ Church Cathedral was designed by New York architect Francis Hatch Kimball and opened for services on December 16, 1894 after four years of construction. An observer who attended the opening service wrote, “After the clergy had passed down the aisle and taken their places in the choir and sanctuary, the Hallelujah chorus was sung. It was an outburst of praise seldom equaled in this musical city.”

Considered one of Tennessee’s finest examples of Victorian Gothic ecclesiastical architecture, the building is constructed of Sewanee sandstone that is detailed with Bowling Green stone. The Broadway facade is dominated by a large rose window and a corner tower of open-work tracery. Stone gargoyles support the pointed gable arches at the building’s tower entrances on Broadway and Ninth Avenue. In the chapel’s belfry behind the sanctuary on Ninth Avenue is the bell from the original Christ Church, the only physical link with the earlier structure. Although part of the original building plan, the tower wasn’t added until 1947. It was designed by local architect Russell E. Hart.

The sanctuary’s interior architecture, which has a distinctive early English atmosphere, is breathtaking and includes original woodwork and stained-glass windows. Granite columns with foliated capitals support the wood tunnel vault of the central nave. Of particular note are two triplets of clerestory stained glass windows—one designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and another group designed by the Tiffany Company. The church engaged New York architect Silas McBee to design the reredos, high altar, and pulpit. Melchior Thoni, a Swiss master woodcarver, oversaw their carving.

In 1969, the parish elected its first woman to the Vestry and in 1985, employed its first female priest as an assistant rector. Christ Church officially became the Cathedral of the Diocese of Tennessee in 1997, and today the parish has over 2,000 members.

Continue walking up Broadway until you see Union Station on your left. You will need to cross the street to see the eastern side, to enter, and to see the train tracks in the back. If you have an interest in the history of the railroad gulch below, see the New South Nashville Tour or the Gulch Highlights Tour.