Christ Episcopal Church, 461 Orange Avenue, Los Altos, Santa Clara County, CA

Significance: Christ Episcopal Church is a small-scaled, one-and-a-half story buildings, constructed with a heavy redwood timber frame and covered with white stucco. Designed in 1914 by British-born and trained California architect Ernest Coxhead, the church exhibits Coxhead's personal interest in details of the English manor house, seen in his use of Neo-Elizabethan and Tudor window dressings, trefoil tracery, the high vaulted chamber and long, narrow gallery. The original church was enlarged in 1926, 1951 and 1973, creating a quadrangle complex, unified by a courtyard at center. Expanding beyond the building's capacity, the Episcopalian congregation moved to a larger structure in 1962. / The original portion of Christ Episcopal Church, which dates to 1914, was the first church in Los Altos. It was a very small structure, designed by prominent San Francisco architect Ernest Coxhead (1863-1933). The church was enlarged in 1926 following Coxhead's original designs and again in 1951 by Ernest Kump to form the present quadrangular complex. The subsequent additions, although not of the same quality as the original structure, were all sympathetic in materials and detailing, producing a unified and harmonious ensemble. Since the 1960's, the church has been owned by the Foothills Congregational Church.
Survey number: HABS CA-2013
Building/structure dates: 1914 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1926 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1951 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1973 Subsequent Work