Ordre Militaire Suprême Des Templiers
King David Priory
SERVING THE STATES OF:
| Alaska | Washington | Oregon | Idaho | Montana | Wyoming |
A MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART
1 SAMUEL 13:14
CHRIST CASTLE CHURCH
Acquired in June 2019, when the Priory of King David belonged to a different Order other our current Order of OMSDT, this beautiful church in North Canaan, Connecticut was purchased and held two annual Conclaves, (Years 2019 and 2020) at the church. In addition to serving as our headquarters, the church served the community by holding Sunday services.
From member donations, the Order was able to make a sizeable down payment for the purchase of the church, with the balance being carried as a mortgage. Though having paid down the mortgage balance, sadly, due to soaring overhead and maintenance costs, the church was sold in 2022.
The church was built in 1845 and was designed by renowned British architect Saint Richard Upjohn, who also designed the famous Trinity Church of Wall Street in New York City, as well as designing Connecticut's state Capitol building.
The church boasts a beautiful exterior crafted of stone, arched double door front entry painted the perfect red, and gorgeous stained glass windows. The property also includes a separate building with a large banquet room and kitchen that can serve as a social hall. The third structure is the fabulous bell tower, with two sets of arched doors, also painted that perfect red! It is a beautiful building and the Order feels blessed to have had it available to us for those few precious years.
Side views of the church. In one of the photos you can see the courtyard area with an inlaid cross (red area).
Below is a close-up of the etched stone set in the upper front peak.
The sanctuary is simply beautiful, featuring a domed ceiling, brass pipe organ, wood pews with red cushions and lovely carved finials, hardwood flooring, red center-aisle carpeting, ornate carvings in much of the wood furniture, plaster walls painted in a soft hue of blue-gray, and gorgeous stained glass windows.
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The fabulous bell tower was a wonderful addition to the property.
The builders obviously took great care to build it in the manner and style that complimented the church's stone exterior, without making it appear it was built decades after the church.
A plaque on the side entrance of the bell tower indicates it was erected in 1931, several years after the construction of the church in 1845.
The bell tower consists of three levels, with the ground level serving as storage. The second and third levels house all the magnificent clock and bell mechanisms.
Much to our disappointment, the mechanisms were not in working condition at the time of our purchase, so a repairman was called upon to service all the mechanisms and make all needed repairs.
Fully repaired and after not chiming for seven years, the bells were once again chiming on the hour throughout the day!
An iron ladder attached to a wall inside the bell tower gives access to all levels and at the very top of the bell tower is a hatch that opens to the roof.
While at Conclave 2019, which was just weeks after the Order purchased the church, Derek, along with Rick Trujillo, climbed the ladder to the roof and found an old flag pole attached to the upper portion of one of the exterior walls of the bell tower.
Rick Trujillo Derek Nordio
Although rusted and gummed and proving to be a worthy opponent, with the help of a few Templar brothers on the ground tossing up tools, the telescoping extension of the flagpole was released from its frozen position allowing Rick and Derek to attach the Templar flag to it and for it to billow in the wind over the bell tower!
If you're on Facebook, you will find an album of more church pictures created by Priory Marshal
Reneé on her Facebook page.
The link for that
album is here.