{"nrhp_refnum":"05001323","name":"Pilgrim Memorial Church and Parish House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"249 Wahconah St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsfield","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.46571752300008,"lon":-73.25338626299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-11-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small fieldstone Gothic/Romanesque church built in 1897 with an attached brick Parish House added in 1927, located at 249 Wahconah Street in Pittsfield's North End, Massachusetts. Both were designed by Pittsfield architect H. Neill Wilson.","why_significant":"The property is significant for its link to the Peck and Russell textile mills, whose workers' families made up most of the congregation, and as the first church in Pittsfield's North End. It also has a long record of community service and social activism. Architecturally, it is a modest local example of late 19th century Gothic/Romanesque church design, with a 1920s Early 20th Century Commercial style Parish House.","narrative":"Pilgrim Memorial Church is a small fieldstone church on Wahconah Street in Pittsfield's North End, completed in 1897 to designs by local architect H. Neill Wilson. Its thick walls, buttresses, Gothic-arched openings and slate roof reflect a plan to build a chapel first and a larger church later; the larger building never followed. A brick Parish House, also by Wilson, was attached in 1927. The church grew from a Sunday school begun in 1863 for families working in the nearby Peck and Russell textile mills, and it was the first church established in the North End, since all earlier Pittsfield churches stood downtown. Over the decades the Parish House served as a community center for scouts, a baby health clinic, wartime meetings and other groups. The property is recognized for this social and religious role and for its modest but well-composed Gothic and Romanesque design. The site has long suffered from flooding because it sits on low ground near Onota Brook.","period_of_significance":"1897-1955","architect_builder":"H. Neill Wilson (church 1897 and Parish House 1927); Dodge and Devanney (1897); D. Herbert Pike (1927)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Gothic/Romanesque; Early 20th Century Commercial","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a religious facility. The form reports a long-standing wet basement, a leaking Parish House roof and buckled fellowship hall floor.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.581331-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/7943/63794326/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/05001323.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001323/33733d229b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001323/33733d229b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Erik617","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pilgrim_Memorial_Church_and_Parish_House_2012-10-24_22-22-31.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Erik617</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pilgrim_Memorial_Church_and_Parish_House_2012-10-24_22-22-31.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794326","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_Memorial_Church_and_Parish_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7193942"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/pilgrim-memorial-church-and-parish-house-05001323/"}