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Center Church is home to the First Church of Christ in Hartford, founded in
1632 in Newtown (now Cambridge), Massachusetts. The Reverend
Thomas Hooker, the congregation's first minister, and his followers
subsequently settled in Hartford in 1636. The congregation's first and
second meeting houses were located near where the Old State House
stands today. In 1737 the Society was granted permission to erect a new
meeting house on a corner of the Ancient Burying Ground. In 1807 that
structure was razed and the current church constructed. Art patron and
civic leader Daniel Wadsworth designed Center Church which, like
Hartford's Old State House, was built by architect/builder John Leffingwell.
The church's soaring ornate white Baroque-style three-stage spire made it
one of the tallest and most opulent structures in Connecticut at the time of
its construction. The church interior features five stained-glass windows by
Louis Comfort Tiffany.