Central Christian Church

The church at 12th and Guadalupe is the congregation's second home, planned from 1924 and dedicated on November 24, 1929, at a cost of about $200,000. It is Romanesque Revival, designed by church member Robert Leon White with Samuel Charles Phelps Vosper. Buff brick and glazed tile sit under a red mission-tile roof, a 42-foot arch frames the east entrance, and the chancel rail carries ceramic tiles of the apostles. A bell-tower base was laid in the northwest courtyard, but no tower was ever added. The building was listed on the National Register in 1992.

What the plaque says

Central Christian Church In 1847, Eight years after the City of Austin was platted, ten members of the Disciples of Christ Brotherhood met to organize this congregation. Although early records of the church are scarce, it is know that regular worship services were being held in a local school building by 1852. The Christian Church of Austin, as the congregation originally was know, acquired its first property at Eighth and Colorado Street and worshiped at that site until moving to this location in 1929. An early dispute over theological and procedural matters split the congregation in 1888. Until 1896, when the Rev.S .D. Dutcher was appointed pastor, leaders of the church were selected from among the laity. The fellowship adopted its current name during the early years of the twentieth century, after other disciples of Christ congregations had been organized in Austin. Although much growth has occurred in the outlying sections of the city, Central Christian Church has remained a vital force in downtown area, its ministry has included the establishment of several other congregations. As one of the oldest churches in Austin, Central Christian has provided the city with significant service and leadership.** (1985)***

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Capitol — 0.2 mi
  Austin's fourth statehouse, a Renaissance Revival capitol of 1888 that stands 311 feet to its Goddess of Liberty and was restored after the 1983 fire.
• Bullock Texas State History Museum — 0.5 mi
  The state's history museum at the head of Congress Avenue, built around the hull of La Salle's ship La Belle, raised from Matagorda Bay with 1.8 million artifacts.
• Harry Ransom Center — 0.7 mi
  The University of Texas archive where a Gutenberg Bible and the earliest surviving camera photograph are always on view, free, beside the papers of Watergate and the movies.
• French Legation State Historic Site — 0.9 mi
  A raised pine house built in 1840 and 1841 for France's envoy to the Republic of Texas, who left Austin in a rage over a neighbor's pigs before it was finished.

More markers nearby

• First United Methodist Church of Austin — steps away
• Third Site for Travis County Government — steps away
• Zachary Taylor Fulmore — steps away
• Site of Haynie-Cook House — steps away