DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Now, every good church has a beginning, and Christ Episcopal Church in San Antonio's Laurel Heights neighborhood — well, its beginning was a little bit borrowed. Back in 1907, Episcopalians were worshipping out here under the auspices of St.
Mark's Church downtown. Picture it: a congregation finding its footing in a neighborhood, not quite its own church yet, but getting there. They were building something.
You could feel it comin'. Then 1911 arrives, and Christ Episcopal Church is formally, officially born — with the Reverend John D. Ridout stepping in as its very first Rector.
First man to hold that post. That's a weight and an honor all at once. But a congregation needs a home worthy of the name, and so in 1913 they broke ground right here.
The man with the vision and the drafting table was architect Atlee B. Ayres, and what he drew up was a Gothic Revival sanctuary — designed, the marker makes a point of saying, in the spirit of an English Parish Church. Not just a building.
A spirit. Stone and arch reaching upward the way those old English parishes have done for centuries. The congregation kept growing, kept building, and by 1929 architect John M.
Marriot was brought in to design a parish hall and educational building to go alongside it. Two architects. Two eras.
One church that clearly intended to last. And standing here in Laurel Heights, it does.
What the marker says
Episcopalians first worshipped in this Laurel Heights neighborhood in 1907, under the auspices of St. Mark's Church downtown. Christ Episcopal Church was formed in 1911, with the Rev. John D. Ridout as its first Rector. In 1913, ground was broken for this Gothic Revival sanctuary, designed by architect Atlee B. Ayres in the spirit of an English Parish Church. A parish hall and educational building was designed in1929 by architect John M. Marriot.