{"nrhp_refnum":"09000560","name":"Sylvan Beach Union Chapel","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"805 Park Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sylvan Beach","county":"Oneida County","state":"NY","lat":43.20093986300003,"lon":-75.72963348599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-07-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story wood-frame seasonal chapel at 805 Park Avenue in the village of Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake, Oneida County, New York, built in 1887 with a bell tower and a lot running to the beach.","why_significant":"The chapel is locally significant as the first religious building in the resort town, built through a community effort to bring religion to the Victorian summer vacation. Its design echoes the camp-meeting movement and is a vernacular interpretation of Stick style architecture. It retains a remarkable degree of integrity to its period of construction.","narrative":"Sylvan Beach Union Chapel is a small wooden church on Park Avenue in the Oneida Lake resort village of Sylvan Beach, New York. Completed in 1887, it was built as a seasonal chapel without heating or plumbing. The two-story building has clapboard walls, a steep roof, a projecting bell tower and Stick style details such as bracketed windows and painted stickwork doors. Tall hinged doors along the sides swing upward to open the interior to the lake air. Inside, a single open room holds exposed Gothic arch trusses, original benches, an 1887 altar and a cornerstone naming the Sylvan Beach Women's Christian Mission. The chapel was the first religious building in a town that grew into a popular summer destination served by railroads, steamers and hotels. A women's group and a board of trustees formed in 1886 to provide worship and Sunday school for vacationers. Its architecture reflects the era's camp-meeting movement, and it retains a high degree of integrity.","period_of_significance":"1887","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Stick","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a church; original kerosene lighting fixtures remain in use, electrified in the 1990s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.685565-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/09000560.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000560/1bd7254b1f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000560/1bd7254b1f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DPiraino","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sylvan_Beach_Union_Chapel_2012-09-05_12-54-32.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">DPiraino</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:Sylvan_Beach_Union_Chapel_2012-09-05_12-54-32.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320255","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvan_Beach_Union_Chapel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7660646"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/oneida-county/sylvan-beach-union-chapel-09000560/"}