{"nrhp_refnum":"71001058","name":"St. Paul's Church","other_names":["Borough Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"201 St. Paul's Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Norfolk (Independent City)","county":"Norfolk","state":"VA","lat":36.84761087000004,"lon":-76.28558533799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-07-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Paul's Church, also called Borough Church, is a colonial brick Anglican church at 201 St. Paul's Boulevard in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, built in 1739 and set in a historic churchyard.","why_significant":"It is the oldest building in the city of Norfolk and the only Virginia colonial church with an inscription formed of projecting bricks. The original walls survived the 1776 fire, and the church has a long record of use through war, abandonment and renovation. Its vestry book of 1748-61 and colonial silver are preserved.","narrative":"Downtown Norfolk's oldest building is St. Paul's Church, a brick Virginia colonial church built in 1739 as the third church of Elizabeth River Parish. Its Latin cross plan, Flemish bond walls and rubbed brick window dressings are the surviving original fabric, since a fire in 1776 destroyed everything else. Projecting bricks in the south transept spell \"1739 S B\", thought to point to Samuel Boush, the borough's first mayor, as donor of the materials. The church was restored in 1786 with lottery funds, was given over to Baptists in 1803, was reoccupied by Episcopalians in 1827, and served as a Federal chapel during the Civil War. A bell tower was added in 1901 and the Georgian-style interior dates from 1913. The churchyard holds graves from the seventeenth century onward, a parish house with a small museum, and a brick wall largely dating from 1759. A cannonball from the 1776 bombardment is displayed at the building.","period_of_significance":"1739 (specific date); periods checked include the 18th century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Virginia colonial ecclesiastical architecture, Latin cross plan, with a Georgian-style interior dating from 1913","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, altered, on its original site, and occupied with religious use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.028725-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/85/6821/41682185/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/71001058.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71001058/100a76a8c6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71001058/100a76a8c6-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StPauls01a.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StPauls01a.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682185","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Paul%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Norfolk,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7402020"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/norfolk/st-pauls-church-71001058/"}