{"nrhp_refnum":"73001453","name":"Apostolic Bethlehem Temple Church","other_names":["St. John's German Evangelical and Reformed Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1205 Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cincinnati","county":"Hamilton County","state":"OH","lat":39.108011420000025,"lon":-84.51844185499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-04-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Gothic-style church building at 1205 Elm Street in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, completed in 1868 for the St. John's German Evangelical and Reformed congregation and now used by the Apostolic Bethlehem Temple Church.","why_significant":"The building housed the oldest German Protestant congregation in Cincinnati until 1946, a congregation organized in 1814 that upheld religious diversity, free inquiry and individual conscience. Its design derives from the German Gothic hall church. It also serves as a visual anchor at the southwest corner of an urban park in the Washington Park neighborhood.","narrative":"Located at 1205 Elm Street in Cincinnati, this church was completed in 1868 and follows the German Gothic hall church tradition. The rectangular building has small eastern transepts flanking a single tower, buttressed side walls, pinnacles, lancet-arched windows and doors with hood molds, and Gothic corbel tables. The nave is on the second floor, reached by steps from the narthex, while the ground floor holds kitchen, nursery and meeting rooms. A bronze tablet inside the entrance honors August Kroell, pastor from 1841 to 1874. The building housed the oldest German Protestant congregation in Cincinnati, organized in 1814 by Joseph Zaeslin. The congregation was first the German Evangelical and Reformed Church, became St. John's German Protestant in 1874, and joined the American Unitarian Association in 1924. It left the building in 1946, and the Apostolic Bethlehem Temple Church now uses it. The church also anchors the southwest corner of a city park in the Washington Park neighborhood.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (completed 1868)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"German Gothic style \"hall\" church","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, occupied and in religious use by the Apostolic Bethlehem Temple Church; the St. John's congregation left in 1946.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.474342-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/73001453.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001453/d8bbed1de6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001453/d8bbed1de6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ApostolicBeth.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ApostolicBeth.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989151","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Bethlehem_Temple_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4780613"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/hamilton-county/apostolic-bethlehem-temple-church-73001453/"}