The spire of Christ Church (latterly Christ Church and St Ewen) stands in the centre of the original walled town at the junction of the four main thoroughfares: Broad Street, Wine Street, High Street and Corn Street.
The foundation stone of this medieval replacement Georgian church was laid on 30 October 1786, by Alderman Isaac Baugh, a former Lord Mayor of the City. The architects were father and son, Thomas and William Paty, from Bristol. As the whole church was surrounded by shops, the only external walls that needed remodelling were the tower and its lower west frontage and so the building was completed, only
five years later, in 1791. Similar in style to Gibb’s classical steeple of St Martin-in-the- Field, it stands almost 160 feet high above the walled city of Bristol.
The italianate style building to the left of the tower is the Grand Hotel, built between 1864-69 and designed by John Foster and Joseph Wood, replacing two pubs. It has been known as the Grand Hotel since 1874 and is still there today, a further attic storey was added during the 20th century. Therefore, it can be deduced that this painting was executed after 1869.
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