{"nrhp_refnum":"77000303","name":"Episcopal Church of the Ascension","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"25 E. Laurel Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sierra Madre","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.166131611000026,"lon":-118.05198318299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-08-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Norman-styled Episcopal church at 25 East Laurel Avenue in Sierra Madre, Los Angeles County, California, built in 1888 to designs by architect Ernest A. Coxhead.","why_significant":"It is the second Episcopal church building and the oldest ecclesiastical structure in Sierra Madre, and it has served the community continuously as a place of worship. It is also one of the few surviving Southern California churches designed by Ernest Coxhead, built on a modest budget by the congregation itself.","narrative":"Sitting on a landscaped lot in a residential neighborhood of Sierra Madre, the Church of the Ascension is a Norman-styled Episcopal church with Romanesque and Gothic details. Built in 1888 on land donated by early settler Frances H. Hawks, it replaced the first church, which a windstorm had blown down the year before. Architect Ernest A. Coxhead designed it and supervised construction on a very modest budget, while congregation members hauled materials from the Santa Anita Wash and did the building themselves. The exterior combines fieldstone, pebbling, wood shingle and stucco, and the interior has exposed wooden rafters carried on hammer beams. Later additions by Carlton Winslow in 1922 and his son in 1951 were designed to match the original. The church is the oldest ecclesiastical structure in the city, remains one of the few surviving churches by Coxhead, and has continuously served as a place of worship that helped guide local community growth.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Ernest Coxhead (Ernest A. Coxhead), architect; built by the congregation","architectural_style":"Norman-styled ecclesiastical structure with Romanesque and Gothic details","criteria":[],"status_note":"Presently in fair condition with cracks from recent earthquakes that the church administration intends to correct; 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 02:55:32.241798-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/77000303.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000303/317d9d6a35-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000303/317d9d6a35-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Patrick Pelletier","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Episcopal_Church_of_the_Ascension_Sierra_Madre_2014_02.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Patrick Pelletier</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:Episcopal_Church_of_the_Ascension_Sierra_Madre_2014_02.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859093","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episcopal_Church_of_the_Ascension_(Sierra_Madre,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5383299"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/episcopal-church-of-the-ascension-77000303/"}