{"nrhp_refnum":"75001367","name":"Gates Mills Methodist Episcopal Church","other_names":["St. Christopher's-by-the-River"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Old Mill Rd. off U.S. 322","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gates Mills","county":"Cuyahoga County","state":"OH","lat":41.51788253400008,"lon":-81.40442791299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-07-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small wooden frame church on Old Mill Road in Gates Mills, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, built in 1853 as the Gates Mills Methodist Episcopal Church and now known as St. Christopher's-by-the-River.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an excellent example of an individual variation on the Greek Revival style. Its history is closely tied to Holsey Gates, the village's founding settler, who led and largely funded its construction. Despite later additions, most of the original structure survives, and the 1927 remodeling was designed by Cleveland architect Frank R. Walker.","narrative":"Built in 1853 beside the Chagrin River in Gates Mills, this small wooden church began as a Methodist Episcopal meeting house. Holsey Gates, who settled the area in 1826 and built its mills, led the project and gave $800 of the $1,300 cost, wanting a church built to his own ideas of design. The Greek Revival building has a pedimented front with four flat pilasters and a distinctive steeple with a square stage, an octagonal cupola and a slender spire topped by a cross. The Methodists gave up the building in 1926, and the Episcopal Mission took it over in 1927, renaming it St. Christopher's-by-the-River. Architect Frank R. Walker planned the alterations, which added a chancel, a baptistery and Sunday school rooms and moved the original building forward 12 feet. A social hall was added in 1916, and further extensions followed in 1953-1954. The original front door, floorboards and most window glass remain, and the church keeps its original character.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Frank R. Walker (1927 alterations); L. G. Rogers, contractor (1927 and 1953-1954 work)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival, with Gothic Revival details and Neo-Classic Revival additions","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition, altered, on its original site, and occupied and in 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 02:53:09.880139-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/75001367.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001367/723f5d0a49-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001367/723f5d0a49-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jf1123581321","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gates_Mills_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_Joseph_Frost.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jf1123581321</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gates_Mills_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_Joseph_Frost.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"14000765","name":"Gates Mills Village Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/gates-mills-village-historic-district-14000765/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987749","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_Mills_Methodist_Episcopal_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5527109"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/cuyahoga-county/gates-mills-methodist-episcopal-church-75001367/"}