{"nrhp_refnum":"78001892","name":"St. John's Episcopal Church","other_names":["Phelps Village Library"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Church St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Phelps","county":"Ontario County","state":"NY","lat":42.95652834100008,"lon":-77.05757143399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. John's Episcopal Church is a stone rubble Gothic Revival parish church near the center of Phelps, Ontario County, New York, built in 1849-50 and designed by Maj. David B. Douglass. It now serves as the Phelps Village Library.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an early, highly significant western New York example of English parish church architecture from the ecclesiological movement's formative years in America. Its design traces to St. James the Less (1846) in Philadelphia, on which its architect had consulted. It shows how quickly eastern seaboard and European styles spread inland.","narrative":"Built of local rubble stone with stepped buttresses, this church in the center of Phelps, New York, was designed by Maj. David B. Douglass and completed as a shell in 1850. Its steep gable roof, lancet windows and stepped west facade recall fourteenth-century English parish churches. The design is traced to St. James the Less in Philadelphia, where Douglass had served as a consultant, linking Phelps to the ecclesiological movement that promoted exact Gothic replication. Bishop William DeLancey consecrated the building in 1856, when butternut pews and woodwork were installed. The project cost $2,480. An apse was added in 1897 and a bell tower in 1905. The congregation declined during the Depression, a fire gutted the interior, and the church closed in the early 1940s. A women's guild revived it in 1945, and a cinder block wing was added in 1954. The building now houses the village library.","period_of_significance":"1849-50, 1856","architect_builder":"Maj. David B. Douglass","architectural_style":"English parish church (Gothic Revival), with a Romanesque-designed tower showing Gothic elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Now used as the Phelps Village Library after the Episcopal congregation moved out; condition marked fair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.544975-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/78001892.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320548","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Phelps,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7588702"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/ontario-county/st-johns-episcopal-church-78001892/"}