{"nrhp_refnum":"00000417","name":"First Reformed Church","other_names":["First Reformed United Church of Christ"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"22 E. Center S.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington","county":"Davidson County","state":"NC","lat":35.823633753000024,"lon":-80.25185649199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-04-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"First Reformed Church is a Gothic Revival brick church at 22 E. Center Street in Lexington, Davidson County, North Carolina, built in 1927-1928 to designs by High Point architect Herbert B. Hunter.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the most architecturally ambitious church built in Davidson County in the 1920s and one of the finest ecclesiastical buildings in Lexington. It is also the building most closely tied to the Reverend Jacob Calvin Leonard, who founded the congregation and led the Reformed Church's growth in the county.","narrative":"Standing at the corner of East Center and North Salisbury streets in Lexington, this Gothic Revival church was built in 1927-1928 from designs by High Point architect Herbert B. Hunter. Griff W. Smith, a local contractor, carried out the construction at a cost of nearly $100,000. The steel-framed building is faced in tapestry brick in bronze, brown, red and copper tones, with white stone banding, a ten-foot rose window above the main portal, and towers of sixty and forty-five feet. Inside, a marble-floored vestibule, limestone arcades, white-oak pews and an oak-trussed ceiling follow a more traditional Gothic pattern. It is considered the grandest church of the 1920s in Davidson County. It is also linked to the Reverend Jacob Calvin Leonard, who founded the congregation in 1901, served as its pastor for thirty-eight years and later led the national General Synod of the Reformed Church. Its significance covers 1927 to 1943, the year of his death.","period_of_significance":"1927-1943","architect_builder":"Hunter, Herbert B. (architect); Griff W. Smith (contractor)","architectural_style":"Late Gothic Revival","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Described as remarkably well preserved and still used as a religious facility.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:52.768967-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/51/7199/47719951/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/00000417.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000417/a265c87cf1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000417/a265c87cf1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Kenneth C. Zirkel","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Reformed_Church,_Lexington,_North_Carolina.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kenneth C. Zirkel</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Reformed_Church,_Lexington,_North_Carolina.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719951","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Reformed_Church_(Lexington,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5453741"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/davidson-county/first-reformed-church-00000417/"}