{"nrhp_refnum":"02001368","name":"Church of the Sacred Heart","other_names":["127-0676","127-0859-0244"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1401 Perry St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Richmond (Independent City)","county":"Richmond (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.522630234000076,"lon":-77.44898989399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-11-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Religion","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1½-story brick Renaissance Revival church at 1401 Perry Street in the Manchester section of Richmond, Virginia, completed in 1901 and designed by architect Joseph Hubert McGuire, with a school building and rectory in the same complex.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is significant under Criterion A as an example of large gifts made to churches and universities by American financiers around 1900, and under Criterion B for its link to financier and philanthropist Thomas Fortune Ryan, who funded it. It also qualifies under Criterion C as the work of an École des Beaux-Arts-trained architect. It is also the home of the oldest Roman Catholic parish in the Manchester area.","narrative":"Sacred Heart Church at 1401 Perry Street in Richmond's Manchester neighborhood is a brick, front-gabled church with a square corner tower and slate roof, completed in 1901 to designs by Joseph H. McGuire, who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Its Renaissance Revival details include arched windows, stained glass with Sacred Heart imagery, a hammer-beam ceiling and Doric columns inside. Financier Thomas Fortune Ryan and his wife, Ida Mary Barry Ryan, paid for the church, which gave Catholics south of the James River their own place of worship. The Ryans gave more than twenty million dollars to Catholic causes, and this church reflects the philanthropy of industrial and financial leaders at the turn of the twentieth century. The complex also includes an 1897 frame school building, moved behind the church, and a rectory begun in 1902. The interior was altered after Vatican Council II, and the parish remains active.","period_of_significance":"1901-1952","architect_builder":"McGuire, Joseph Hubert--Architect; Sitterding, Fritz--Contractor","architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Renaissance Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"The church is described as in good condition, and the parish remains active. The 1897 frame school building has not been used as a school since 1987, and the 1931 school across Perry Street has been a community center since 1987.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:01.258639-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/43/6832/41683243/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/02001368.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001368/dfdaf2be5c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001368/dfdaf2be5c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Morgan Riley","credit_html":"Morgan Riley, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_the_Sacred_Heart_Richmond_VA.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"02000521","name":"Manchester Residential and Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/manchester-residential-and-commercial-historic-district-02000521/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683243","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Sacred_Heart_(Richmond,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23134361"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/richmond/church-of-the-sacred-heart-02001368/"}