Christ Church, Gardiner will be the topic of the Kennebec Historical Society’s December public Facebook presentation set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16, at facebook.com/KHS1891.

This year Christ Church in Gardiner is celebrating the 200th anniversary of its landmark house of worship. Constructed of local granite between 1818 and 1820, Christ Church is Maine’s first example of Gothic Revival church architecture.

This distinctive building was erected primarily through the support of Robert Hallowell Gardiner I, who secured the plans from the Rev. Samuel Farmar Jarvis. From 1847 to 1866 the church served as the seat of Maine’s first Episcopal bishop George Burgess, who is buried in the adjacent churchyard. This video lecture will trace the architectural history of one of the state’s most historic churches in its bicentennial year, according to a news release from the society.

Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., a Portland native and KHS speaker, attended Deering High School, Colby College, and Boston University and was the recipient of honorary doctorates from Bowdoin College and the Maine College of Art. At the age of 13, Shettleworth became interested in historic preservation through the destruction of Portland’s Union Station in 1961.

In 1971 he was appointed by Gov. Kenneth M. Curtis to serve on the first board of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, for which he became architectural historian in 1973 and director in 1976. He retired from that position in 2015. Shettleworth has lectured and written extensively on Maine history and architecture and served as State Historian since 2004.

Those who have a question can submit it in the comments during the video presentation.

For more information or questions about the program, call Scott Wood, administrative director, at 207-622-7718.