{"nrhp_refnum":"05001392","name":"First Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"75-77 N. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Spencer","county":"Tioga County","state":"NY","lat":42.213892213000065,"lon":-76.49215836899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-12-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Art"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Gothic Revival-style church at 75-77 North Main Street in the village of Spencer, Tioga County, New York, built in 1915 to a design by an architect named Barber, with Carl Vorhis as builder.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is a distinctive, highly intact example of an Akron plan church, a type favored by Presbyterian congregations. It also holds a collection of fourteen stained-glass windows by Henry Keck, his first independent commission after founding his own studio in 1913. A 1961 roof replacement compromised its Gothic Revival style, but its form, massing and interior plan remain intact.","narrative":"Standing at the corner of North Main and Myrtle streets in Spencer, this brick church was completed in 1915 after fire destroyed the congregation's earlier building in 1911. It was designed in a restrained Gothic Revival style around an Akron plan, a type that combined an open auditorium with a Sunday school space that could be divided off by movable partitions. The design includes a corner entrance tower, a cross-gabled layout, curved pews facing a corner platform, and a choir and organ alcove. Its most celebrated feature is a set of fourteen opalescent stained-glass windows by Henry Keck of Syracuse, the first major commission of his newly established studio. Replacement of the roof in 1961 removed the original parapets and the crenellated tower top, weakening the Gothic Revival character of the exterior. The interior arrangement and windows remain largely unaltered, which is why the building is valued as an intact example of its type.","period_of_significance":"1914-15","architect_builder":"Barber [first name unknown], architect; Carl Vorhis, builder; Henry Keck, stained glass","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The congregation still uses the building for religious purposes; the Sunday school wing is used for meetings and other activities.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.671855-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/05001392.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001392/cc40b8ec0e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001392/cc40b8ec0e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Presbyterian_Church_Spencer_NY_Nov_09.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Presbyterian_Church_Spencer_NY_Nov_09.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322437","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Presbyterian_Church_(Spencer,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5453638"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/tioga-county/first-presbyterian-church-05001392/"}