Though Christian is often referred to as being a church architect he also designed about 120 houses, mainly for wealthy gentlemen.
Many were built in a heavy Tudor style with large stone mullioned and transomed windows, steep roofs with dormers and tall brick chimney stacks and displaying decorative timber-framing and tile-hanging.
One of his earliest was Market Lavington Manor in Wiltshire (completed in 1865) for Edward Pleydell Bouverie (1818–89) a Liberal MP, Church Estates Commissioner and from 1869 an Ecclesiastical Commissioner.
The house has an impressive gabled exterior in red brick with blue brick diapering.
Christian commented in his own list of works that the house had 'brought many others in its train'.
His work at Glyndebourne, East Sussex in 1876 for William Langham Christie (1830–1913) involved encasing the original Tudor house in a new Tudor style brick exterior with large bay windows added to give more light to the interior.
Malwood (1883–84), a house Christian designed near Minstead in Hampshire (not to be confused with Castle Malwood which is a different house) was built for the Liberal statesman Sir William Harcourt (1827–1904) and shows the influence of the architect Norman Shaw's 'Old English' style.
Christian designed the building for its setting in the ridge-top clearing of a wood, close to the ancient earthworks of an Iron Age hill fort.
It displays extensive half-timbering above a red brick ground floor with stone dressings and the steep roofs have large gables and dormers and clusters of tall brick chimneys.

 Christian's own house, 'Thwaitehead', named after his mother's home village in Lancashire, was built by him in 1881–82 on an excellent site in Well Walk, Hampstead, overlooking Hampstead Heath. (
The view was obscured in 1904 when The Pryors – large Edwardian mansion blocks – was built opposite.)
The house is picturesquely designed in red brick and is set at an angle to the corner of the road with large stone mullioned windows and a tile-hung projecting bay.
The reddish-brown tiled roofs of different levels have hipped dormers and massive ribbed chimney stacks (in dark grey-brown brick to match the roofs).
A very typical tower with its own pyramidal roof is placed asymmetrically at a corner of the building and there is a charming first-floor open trellis-work balcony which had views of the heath.
The band of text which ran around the building at first-floor level and included Christian's favourite "God's Providence is Mine Inheritance" has recently been restored in a restoration of the building by Belsize Architects.
Thwaitehead's design predominantly displays the influence of the Domestic Revival style of architecture made popular at that time through the work of Richard Norman Shaw (1831–1912) and W. E. Nesfield (1835–88).
Shaw also lived in Hampstead in a house that he designed for himself (completed in 1876) and his house for the children's book illustrator Kate Greenaway in nearby Frognal, Hampstead, built in 1884–85, displays pretty tile-hanging and a balcony and is in its character similar to Christian's own house, built only three years before.
Though Christian is often referred to as being a church architect he also designed about 120 houses, mainly for wealthy gentlemen. Many were built in a heavy Tudor style with large stone mullioned and transomed windows, steep roofs with dormers and tall brick chimney stacks and displaying decorative timber-framing and tile-hanging. One of his earliest was Market Lavington Manor in Wiltshire (completed in 1865) for Edward Pleydell Bouverie (1818–89) a Liberal MP, Church Estates Commissioner and from 1869 an Ecclesiastical Commissioner. The house has an impressive gabled exterior in red brick with blue brick diapering. Christian commented in his own list of works that the house had 'brought many others in its train'. His work at Glyndebourne, East Sussex in 1876 for William Langham Christie (1830–1913) involved encasing the original Tudor house in a new Tudor style brick exterior with large bay windows added to give more light to the interior. Malwood (1883–84), a house Christian designed near Minstead in Hampshire (not to be confused with Castle Malwood which is a different house) was built for the Liberal statesman Sir William Harcourt (1827–1904) and shows the influence of the architect Norman Shaw's 'Old English' style. Christian designed the building for its setting in the ridge-top clearing of a wood, close to the ancient earthworks of an Iron Age hill fort. It displays extensive half-timbering above a red brick ground floor with stone dressings and the steep roofs have large gables and dormers and clusters of tall brick chimneys.
 Christian's own house, 'Thwaitehead', named after his mother's home village in Lancashire, was built by him in 1881–82 on an excellent site in Well Walk, Hampstead, overlooking Hampstead Heath. (The view was obscured in 1904 when The Pryors – large Edwardian mansion blocks – was built opposite.) The house is picturesquely designed in red brick and is set at an angle to the corner of the road with large stone mullioned windows and a tile-hung projecting bay. The reddish-brown tiled roofs of different levels have hipped dormers and massive ribbed chimney stacks (in dark grey-brown brick to match the roofs). A very typical tower with its own pyramidal roof is placed asymmetrically at a corner of the building and there is a charming first-floor open trellis-work balcony which had views of the heath. The band of text which ran around the building at first-floor level and included Christian's favourite "God's Providence is Mine Inheritance" has recently been restored in a restoration of the building by Belsize Architects. Thwaitehead's design predominantly displays the influence of the Domestic Revival style of architecture made popular at that time through the work of Richard Norman Shaw (1831–1912) and W. E. Nesfield (1835–88). Shaw also lived in Hampstead in a house that he designed for himself (completed in 1876) and his house for the children's book illustrator Kate Greenaway in nearby Frognal, Hampstead, built in 1884–85, displays pretty tile-hanging and a balcony and is in its character similar to Christian's own house, built only three years before.
Ewan Christian