{"nrhp_refnum":"12000960","name":"St. James Episcopal Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"112 6th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Watkins Glen","county":"Schuyler County","state":"NY","lat":42.38206752900004,"lon":-76.87094527299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-11-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Gothic Revival church at 112 Sixth Street in the village of Watkins Glen, Schuyler County, New York, built in 1864 with a bell tower added in 1866.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is a highly intact mid-nineteenth century Gothic Revival building, significant for its architecture. It was the first church to relocate to the residential area around Lafayette Park and the first to use the Gothic Revival style, which the Presbyterians and Baptists later followed. It also reflects the village's nineteenth-century growth.","narrative":"St. James Episcopal Church is a brick Gothic Revival church at the corner of Sixth Street and Decatur Avenue in Watkins Glen, at the south end of Seneca Lake. Construction began in 1863, and the first service was held on Christmas Day 1864. A square bell tower with the main entrance was added in 1866, and a chancel and vestry rooms followed in 1878. The building keeps a high-pitched roof, pointed arched windows, corner buttresses and small metal spires. Steel roof trusses were added in the 1920s to address problems from soft soils. The parish, founded in 1830, moved away from the lakeshore to a newer residential area near Lafayette Park. It was the first brick church in the village and the first to adopt the Gothic Revival style, which the neighboring Presbyterian and Baptist congregations later copied. The builder or architect is unknown. The church is valued as an intact example of mid-nineteenth century Episcopal church design.","period_of_significance":"1864-1878","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still an active church. The attached parish house, remodeled around 1970, is non-contributing because of lost integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.01267-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/12000960.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000960/41f8618554-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000960/41f8618554-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Dmadeo","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_James_Episcopal_Church,_Watkins_Glen,_NY.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Dmadeo</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:St_James_Episcopal_Church,_Watkins_Glen,_NY.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321809","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Episcopal_Church_(Watkins_Glen,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23092092"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/schuyler-county/st-james-episcopal-church-12000960/"}