{"nrhp_refnum":"72000865","name":"Chapel of the Good Shepherd","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Welfare Island","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.761871229000064,"lon":-73.95013815299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-03-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small brick Victorian Gothic chapel on Welfare Island (now Roosevelt Island), New York City, built in 1888-1889 and designed by Frederick Clarke Withers.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a work of Frederick Clarke Withers, an English-born architect who trained with Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux and wrote the 1873 book Church Architecture. It describes the chapel as a small building reminiscent of an English parish church, with Victorian Gothic detail. Its construction was funded by a gift from banker George Bliss.","narrative":"Built in 1888-1889 on Welfare Island in New York City, this small chapel is a one-story brick church set above a high basement. Its walls are laid in modified Flemish bond, with brownstone trim at the doors, windows and buttresses and a rock-faced ashlar basement. A stone tower with a broached spire rises beside a semicircular apse, and a plate-tracery rose window sits above the entrance vestibule. Frederick Clarke Withers, an English-born architect who came to the United States in 1852 at the invitation of Andrew Jackson Downing, designed it. He later worked with Calvert Vaux and published Church Architecture in 1873. Construction began in June 1888, funded by a gift from banker George Bliss. Set on an open site among trees, the chapel recalls an English parish church in Victorian Gothic dress. At the time of listing it was in good condition, though altered, and sat unused while restoration was awaited.","period_of_significance":"1888-1889","architect_builder":"Frederick Clarke Withers (architect)","architectural_style":"Victorian Gothic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, altered, on its original site, and unused pending restoration.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.835641-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/72000865.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000865/267210b9e4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000865/267210b9e4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Payton Chung","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roosevelt_Island-1889_Chapel.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Payton Chung</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:Roosevelt_Island-1889_Chapel.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319366","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapel_of_the_Good_Shepherd_(Roosevelt_Island)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5073113"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/chapel-of-the-good-shepherd-72000865/"}