{"nrhp_refnum":"77000287","name":"Ione City Centenary Church","other_names":["Cathedral of the Mother Lode","Community United Methodist Chur"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"150 W. Marlette St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ione","county":"Amador County","state":"CA","lat":38.34991027800004,"lon":-120.93383183399999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-05-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Gothic-style Methodist church in Ione, Amador County, California, built between 1862 and 1866. It measures about 42 by 70 feet and has a spire roughly 150 feet high.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a well-preserved early example of Gothic church architecture in California. It reflects the 1850s shift from classical gold rush meetinghouses to medieval-style churches. The building follows mid-nineteenth century Gothic Revival ideas, with buttressed walls, pointed arches and a square tower with a tall spire.","narrative":"Ione's Community United Methodist Church is a brick Gothic church built between 1862 and 1866 in Amador County, California. It measures about 42 by 70 feet, with two main floors, walls supported by massive buttresses, pointed-arch doors and windows, and a spire about 150 feet above ground. The walls are four bricks wide, made near the present high school, and rest on native stone set on bedrock. The nomination treats it as a well-preserved early example of Gothic church building in California, part of the 1850s move away from classical gold rush meetinghouses toward medieval-style churches. Its facade is divided into bays, with wide doors, buttresses and a square tower carrying a tall spire. Local donors supplied materials, including lime and a red granite heart over the main door. The high open-rafter roof came through the 1906 earthquake undisturbed, though the chimney fell. The interior has changed over time, including removal of the choir balcony, but the exterior is nearly unchanged.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gothic (Gothic Revival)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition given as good, with some mortar missing between bricks that needs maintenance. Appearance is described as practically the same as when first built.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.155999-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/77000287.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000287/e246f2b574-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000287/e246f2b574-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"LPS.1","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ione_City_Centenary_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">LPS.1</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:Ione_City_Centenary_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858398","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Methodist_Church_of_Ione","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5154822"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/amador-county/ione-city-centenary-church-77000287/"}