On Jan. 23, 1942, The Rye Chronicle reported that the City of Rye had acquired an “Historic Dwelling Property,” located at 51 Milton Road, for “municipal use.”
The building, now the site of The Rye Arts Center, was described as an “old colonial residence that had been used as a place of worship by Christ’s Church after the Revolution” and “a house that rivals Rye’s historic Square House in its historic atmosphere.”
In her 2001 book, “Blessed by God: The History of Christ’s Church Rye, New York,” Elizabeth Field noted that the first church building of Grace Church was erected in 1706 by members of Rye’s Church of England (Anglican) parish.
In 1776, during the revolutionary turmoil in Rye, Rev. Ephraim Avery, the Anglican rector, was murdered. It is unknown, however, whether the assailants were patriots or loyalists. In addition, Grace Church was destroyed by fire, along all of its records, though it’s unclear when that took place. Baird’s history of Rye reports that “from a military map of 1779, we infer that Grace Church, the venerable sanctuary where so many generations had worshipped, was still standing in that year.
“No meeting of the Vestry appears to have been held for nine years, from 1776 to 1785 and no mention of any public religious service after the death of the Rev. Mr. Avery, ” Baird wrote. When services resumed, they were initially held “in the old parsonage house, on the west side of Blind Brook.”
In 1788 the second church was erected, which Field described as “a federal style building, constructed of wood supplied by the parishioners…. A steeple originally designed was omitted, but the Vestry proceeded with its intent to have an arched ceiling and four supporting pillars encased in white oak.”
Peter Jay (father of John Jay), a senior warden of the parish who had “promoted the building of the church, was given a pew next to the chancel, and his daughter, Anna, upon her death, enabled the church to enlarge the lands owned by the parish.”
Although the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, and the second church building was completed in 1788, it was not until 1796 that the name of the parish was officially changed from Grace Church to Christ’s Church. Whether that was due to a lingering animosity toward the Anglican Church in America is not known.
When construction began in 1854 on a new church, the 1788 building was moved to church property on Milton Road, where it remained for more than 70 years. The building was then four bays wide and four bays deep, with a gabled porch entry.
As reported by The Rye Chronicle in 1923, the Village Board of Trustees voted to change the zoning law to permit a “modern apartment house to be built on property owned by the Episcopal Church, which was located between it and the Methodist Church.”
With the construction of Blind Brook Lodge in the 1920s, the second church building was moved again to 51 Milton Road, where it was converted to a private residence. As The Chronicle article noted in 1942, “It even yet contains earmarks of the days when it served as a church, including some of the old pews which were made into doors.”
The Rye Art Center was founded in 1960 by five Rye couples and held its first classes (oil painting, print making, and drawing) in an old barn. According to the RAC website, it began renting space at 51 Milton Road as early as 1964, and all classes moved to that location in 1972.
In 1984, the arts center launched a successful fundraising and community awareness campaign that ended in 1987, when the center took full possession of the building, which it continues to occupy today under a long-term lease from the city.
