The early history of St Anne's church begins in 1745 when Albemarle County was formed from western portion of Goochland County and the new parish was cut from St James's parish. Originally covering a vast territory, both the county and St Anne's Parish were reduced to their present sizes in 1761, with the parish taking in most of the lower half of the county. Christ Church was preceded by two other churches in the parish, Ballanger Church and The Forge. These churches fell into decay, however, and in 1820, what remained of the congregation of The Forge resolved that a new and better house must be provided for the worship of God.

The new church was not begun until 1831, when the contract for its construction was given to a Mr Phillips. It is almost certain that the Mr Phillips referred to in the Parish records is William E Phillips, a brick mason who had worked for Thomas Jefferson during the construction of the University of Virginia. Phillips built a number of buildings in the Piedmont following the construction of the University, and the hallmarks of his structures arc carefully executed classical detail and exquisite brickwork such as found in the Madison County Court House and the Greene County Court house, both documented Philips buildings. The close similarity of Philips' work to Jefferson's illustrates the strong influence Jefferson had on his more able workmen. Christ Church thus belongs to the small but elite group of highly sophisticated ante bellum Virginia buildings that are referred to as either roman Revival or Jeffersonian because their forms were directly inspired by the classicism of the nation's outstanding gentleman architect. - NRHP, 3 February 1971