{"nrhp_refnum":"74001801","name":"Church of St. James the Less","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Hunting Park Ave. and Clearfield St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.003580602000056,"lon":-75.18273106376799,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-11-20","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1985-02-04","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Gothic Revival stone church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, built beginning in 1846 as a replica of a medieval English parish church. It has a nave with aisles, a chancel, and a bell cote on the west wall.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church was the first in the United States erected under the direct supervision of the English ecclesiologists of the Cambridge Camden Society. Its near-exact copy of a medieval English church departed from earlier selective Gothic revival buildings and set a precedent for later Episcopal churches, including those of Richard Upjohn. Its significance is stated as almost entirely architectural.","narrative":"Built beginning in 1846 in Philadelphia, the Church of St. James the Less is a grey stone building with a nave, side aisles, and a chancel elevated one step above the nave. Its interior walls were left unpainted and unplastered to follow English parish church tradition. A copper, brass, and iron rood screen separates the nave from the choir, and the west wall carries a bell cote of three lancets holding four bells from Taylor Foundry, London. Robert Ralston of Philadelphia was among its founders, and the design replicates St. Michael's at Longstanton, Cambridgeshire, dating from about 1230. Its chancel roof was decorated in 1878 with a pre-Raphaelite design of angels and lilies, and the stained glass was made by Henry Gerente of Paris. The church is significant mainly for its architecture: it was the first American church erected under the direct supervision of the Cambridge Camden Society, and it set a precedent for later Episcopal churches.","period_of_significance":"1846","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"English parish church style (Gothic Revival)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Original site retained; described as unaltered with most original features retained, and in good condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.048095-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/74001801.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001801/659f1e20d2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001801/659f1e20d2-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jack Boucher","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_the_Less_HABS.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Boucher</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_the_Less_HABS.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"72001151","name":"Fairmount Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/fairmount-park-72001151/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996984","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St._James_the_Less_(Philadelphia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5117237"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/church-of-st-james-the-less-74001801/"}