{"nrhp_refnum":"70000766","name":"Gethsemane Lutheran Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1510 Congress Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Austin","county":"Travis County","state":"TX","lat":30.27781978200005,"lon":-97.73948754299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-08-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small brick Gothic Revival Lutheran church at 1510 Congress in Austin, Travis County, Texas, completed in 1883 by a Swedish immigrant congregation and now on the extended Capitol grounds.","why_significant":"It was built by the congregation that founded the first Swedish Lutheran church in Texas and the first Lutheran church in Travis County. It is an outstanding example of early Texas architecture, reflecting rural Swedish church design, and it reuses bricks and stones from the 1881-burned Capitol and doors from the University of Texas Main Building.","narrative":"Gethsemane Lutheran Church is a simple Gothic Revival building at 1510 Congress Avenue in Austin, now part of the extended Capitol grounds. Swedish immigrants held their first services in Austin in 1868, organized by Swedish Consul Swante Palm, and formed the first Lutheran church in Travis County and the first Swedish Lutheran church in Texas. In late 1882 the congregation sold its original church and bought land behind the Capitol. Fredric Reichow served as master-builder, S.A. Carlson as contractor and August Swenson as architect, and members did much of the work themselves. The tan brick came from the old Capitol, which burned in 1881. The front doors came from the University of Texas Main Building. The church was completed in 1883 and has a limestone basement, a tall bell tower, lancet stained glass windows and a pressed tin roof. Its design resembles early rural Swedish churches. The Texas Legislature acquired it for a museum.","period_of_significance":"1883 (19th Century)","architect_builder":"August Swenson, architect; Fredric Reichow, master-builder and foreman; S.A. Carlson, contractor","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival (with Carpenter Gothic cupola)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the State of Texas; condition rated good and altered. The state planned to use it as a museum and place of rest and meditation.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.065047-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/65/9737/40973765/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/70000766.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000766/7e83cd0021-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000766/7e83cd0021-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gethsemane_lutheran_church_austin_2009.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gethsemane_lutheran_church_austin_2009.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973765","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gethsemane_Lutheran_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5554462"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/travis-county/gethsemane-lutheran-church-70000766/"}