{"nrhp_refnum":"76001372","name":"Ursuline Center","other_names":["St. Ursula Literary Institute"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE of Fayetteville off OH 251","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fayetteville","county":"Brown County","state":"OH","lat":39.20982983300007,"lon":-83.88741034199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-06-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A cluster of seven convent, academy and church buildings near St. Martin and Fayetteville in Brown County, Ohio, built between 1840 and 1885 as the Ursuline Center, also called the St. Ursula Literary Institute.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the buildings are fine examples of Italianate and Gothic Revival architecture. Together they form a comprehensive architectural survey of convent and academic life in the mid-nineteenth century. The older brick buildings express the functional, practical side of convent life, while details such as the classical portico and the carved interiors relieve their severity.","narrative":"Near St. Martin in Brown County, Ohio, the Ursuline Center is a group of seven buildings put up between 1840 and 1885 for a convent and academy. The oldest is a brick seminary of 1840, taken down and rebuilt about 50 feet away in 1866. French nuns arrived in 1845, and the academy was chartered in 1846. The four-story Academy and Convent building followed in 1847, with a columned Ionic portico and a richly carved interior chapel. A Commencement Hall with an octagonal cupola, a Music Hall, an Italianate priest's house and cottage, both from 1863, and a Gothic Revival stone chapel of 1885 complete the group. The nomination values the complex as a survey of mid-nineteenth-century academic and ecclesiastical architecture. Its plain brick exteriors reflect practical convent life, while the carved woodwork, vaulted chapel ceiling and Italianate detailing add character. Later additions are small and brick, and are described as not harming the complex's integrity.","period_of_significance":"1840 to 1885","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate and Gothic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Form lists the property as occupied, privately owned, and altered; the Seminary Building was moved about 50 feet in 1866 and rebuilt in its original form.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.654714-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/76001372.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001372/306773adeb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001372/306773adeb-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Aesopposea","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chatfield_College_Library.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Aesopposea</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:Chatfield_College_Library.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986851","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatfield_College","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5087595"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/brown-county/ursuline-center-76001372/"}