{"nrhp_refnum":"10000225","name":"Elmendorf Reformed Church","other_names":["Elmendorf Chapel"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"171 E. 121st St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.80366577600006,"lon":-73.93786197199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-04-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Renaissance Revival church building at 171 East 121st Street in East Harlem, Manhattan, built in 1894 as a Sunday school annex and chapel beside an earlier church, with a wrought iron fence as a contributing object.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is significant under Criterion A for its link to the social history of East Harlem and the religious history of the Reformed Church in America. The congregation traces an unbroken line to 1660 and lived through shifts from agrarian to urban, middle class to poor, and white to black and Latino. In the 1950s and 1960s it adopted a racially inclusive mission.","narrative":"Elmendorf Reformed Church is a two-story Renaissance Revival building at 171 East 121st Street in East Harlem, completed in 1894 as a Sunday school annex and chapel. Its front facade is sandstone, painted a limestone color, with round-arched upper windows, pilasters and a modillioned pediment. After an earlier 1825 church next door was demolished in 1907, the annex was remodeled to hold the main sanctuary on the upper floor, and pews, a pulpit, ceiling medallions and columns from the older building were installed there. A Dutch-made bell from 1734 is displayed inside. The congregation began in 1660 as the Reformed Low Dutch Church of Harlem and has occupied five church buildings. The property was listed for its place in East Harlem's social history and in the history of the Reformed Church in America. It served immigrant families, then became a largely black congregation after World War II, adopting an inclusive parish mission in the late 1950s.","period_of_significance":"1894-1960","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Renaissance Revival","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still used as a religious facility; the front facade is intact under paint, with the original entrance doors removed and a large electric sign added.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.208416-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/10000225.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000225/0f12a1a73e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000225/0f12a1a73e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elmendorf_Reformed_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elmendorf_Reformed_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319467","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmendorf_Reformed_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5366457"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/elmendorf-reformed-church-10000225/"}