{"nrhp_refnum":"66000776","name":"Old North Church","other_names":["Christ Church Episcopal"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"193 Salem St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.366291689000036,"lon":-71.05449819726762,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1961-01-20","areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Old North Church (Christ Church in the City of Boston) is an Anglican/Episcopal church at 191 Salem Street in Boston's North End, begun in 1723, with a vicarage, an Italian chapel and the Clough House on the same parcel. It was designed by William Price.","why_significant":"The church is Boston's oldest surviving church and the first building in the English colonies to fully take on the Wren or Georgian church form, with a front tower and spire, an oblong auditorium and box pews. It is also where two lanterns were hung in the spire on April 18, 1775, to signal the British troop movement by water before Lexington and Concord.","narrative":"Old North Church, at 191 Salem Street in Boston's North End, is a brick church begun in 1723 on land near the crown of Copp's Hill. William Price, a Boston book and print dealer, designed it, drawing on Christopher Wren's London churches. It was the first building in the English colonies to fully take on the Wren or Georgian form, with a tall front tower and spire, an oblong interior, and longitudinal aisles between box pews. The wooden spire, finished in 1740, was blown down in 1804 and again toppled in 1954, and each time it was replaced. The church is also known for April 18, 1775, when sexton Robert Newman hung two lanterns in the spire to warn patriots across the Charles River that British troops were moving out by water. The church was restored in 1912-14. The complex also includes a vicarage, an Italian chapel built in 1918, and the c. 1715 Clough House. Visitors are welcome daily, and services continue.","period_of_significance":"1723-1740; 1775","architect_builder":"William Price; restoration, Sturgis and Ross","architectural_style":"Wren or Georgian type church","criteria":[],"status_note":"Well maintained since its 1912-14 restoration; open to the public daily and used for regular Sunday services. The adjoining Clough House serves as a parish hall.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 01:59:13.385452-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/7938/63793857/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000776_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000776/47e76194bd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000776/47e76194bd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Francisco Anzola","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_North_Church_(6001949500).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Francisco Anzola</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_North_Church_(6001949500).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"15000195","name":"Boston National Historical Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/boston-national-historical-park-15000195/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793857","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_North_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1321240"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/old-north-church-66000776/"}