BNHA Grace and Saint Peter's Church

The lovely building on the corner of Park Avenue and Monument Streets was originally built in 1852 as Grace Church. A member of the congregation, Dr. John Hansen Thomas, was building a great mansion on Mount Vernon Place (now the Hackerman House of the Walters Art Museum) and desired an Episcopal church close to his new home. His architects, the Baltimore firm of Niernsee and Nielsen, designed Grace Church as a variation of the Gothic Revival style known as English Country Gothic. This style was then being promoted as part of a movement to restore the mystery of the Eucharist as the central focus of church liturgy, a change from the denomination’s previous focus on the sermon. Grace Church’s congregation later merged with that of the older St. Peter’s Church. They share a 200-year history with Grace and St. Peter’s School, an independent Episcopal day school that enrolls children from preschool through fifth grade.