{"nrhp_refnum":"10000457","name":"Bellville Cemetery Chapel","other_names":["Ohio Historic Inventory RIC-00021-17"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Bellville Cemetery, SR 97","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bellville","county":"Richland County","state":"OH","lat":40.62035249100006,"lon":-82.51874395099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-07-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small Queen Anne style cemetery chapel in the southwest corner of Bellville Cemetery, off State Route 97 in Bellville, Richland County, Ohio. It was built around 1877-1880 by an unknown builder.","why_significant":"The chapel is significant under Criterion C as an intact example of Queen Anne style funerary architecture in Richland County. Its scroll-sawn bargeboards, fish scale siding, spindlework and Palladian-style window groupings show skilled carpentry typical of the style. It also reflects the woodworking of local mills and builders during a period of village growth.","narrative":"Perched on a bluff 130 feet above the Clear Fork of the Mohican River, this small wood-frame chapel sits among mature Norway spruce trees in Bellville Cemetery. Built around 1877-1880 by an unknown builder, it measures 20 feet square and rises 1-1/2 stories under a steep cross gable roof. Its exterior shows the exuberant Queen Anne style, with clapboard and fish scale siding, scroll-sawn bargeboards, pendant drops, beaded spindles and Palladian-style window groupings. The interior is plain, with one chapel room, a two-hole privy and an attic stair. It was listed for its architecture, as an intact local example of Queen Anne funerary design that echoes the craftsmanship of Bellville's lumber mills and of the 1879 bandstand. The building held coffins over winter, hosted non-denominational funerals, and served as an aircraft spotter post in World War II. It is now vacant and owned by the village.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1877-1880","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian / Queen Anne","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Currently vacant; owned by the Village of Bellville. Formerly used by cemetery trustees for equipment storage. Some spindle work on the south elevation has deteriorated.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:07.279677-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/10000457.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000457/76084658a6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000457/76084658a6-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"User:OHWiki","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bellville_Cemetery_Chapel.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:OHWiki</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bellville_Cemetery_Chapel.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991110","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138657211"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/richland-county/bellville-cemetery-chapel-10000457/"}