{"nrhp_refnum":"06000479","name":"Immanuel Congregational Church","other_names":["St. Mark's Congregational Church","Union Baptist Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"461 Decatur St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brooklyn","county":"Brooklyn","state":"NY","lat":40.68250704500008,"lon":-73.92467587099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-06-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story neo-Renaissance brick church at 461 Decatur Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, erected in 1898 for Immanuel Congregational Church and designed by Axel S. Hedman.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is an exuberant example of late nineteenth-century neo-Renaissance ecclesiastical architecture, with a sophisticated classical sanctuary and high-quality materials. Its auditorium plan with galleries and sliding partitions reflects Congregational meetinghouse tradition and the Akron-plan. It also represents the growth of Congregationalism and the development of Bedford-Stuyvesant, and later served as a key institution for Union Baptist Church.","narrative":"Built in 1898 on Decatur Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, this two-story church was designed by architect Axel S. Hedman for the newly formed Immanuel Congregational Church. Its five-bay facade of yellow Roman brick has a rusticated first floor, round-arched stained-glass windows, terra cotta swags, a sheet metal frieze and a pediment flanked by two louvered towers. Inside, a nearly square sanctuary with galleries on three sides recalls the Congregational meetinghouse, while sliding partitions allowed classrooms to open onto the main space. Original woodwork, plasterwork, stained glass and a coffered ceiling remain. The congregation was later renamed St. Mark's, and in 1945 the building was sold to Union Baptist Church, which added a basement hall in 1961 and a baptismal addition in 1973. The church continues to serve as a house of worship and a base for neighborhood outreach, and is valued as a landmark of late nineteenth-century architecture.","period_of_significance":"1898","architect_builder":"Hedman, Axel S.","architectural_style":"Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals: Neo-Renaissance","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a religious facility by Union Baptist Church, which runs community programs including a feeding program; the exterior and interior retain a high degree of integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.628027-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/06000479.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000479/168015a119-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000479/168015a119-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Immanuel_Congregational_Church_Brooklyn.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</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:Immanuel_Congregational_Church_Brooklyn.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318417","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Congregational_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6004633"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/brooklyn/immanuel-congregational-church-06000479/"}