{"nrhp_refnum":"78002078","name":"Holy Cross Monastery and Chapel","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1055 St. Paul Pl.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cincinnati","county":"Hamilton County","state":"OH","lat":39.10752750200004,"lon":-84.49928782221573,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-09-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Holy Cross Monastery and Chapel is a complex of a brick chapel, a three-story monastery and a 130-foot campanile at 1055 St. Paul Place on Mt. Adams in Cincinnati, Ohio. The chapel dates to 1894-1895 and the monastery to 1901-1905.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the complex is significant for how its buildings relate to the hilltop site and for their social and symbolic value. Together the monastery, chapel and campanile form a landmark on Mt. Adams and a distinctive part of the Cincinnati skyline. The site also carries earlier history as an observatory and as the home of the Passionist order in Cincinnati.","narrative":"Holy Cross Monastery and Chapel crowns the hill of Mt. Adams in Cincinnati at 1055 St. Paul Place. The complex combines a chapel built in the mid-1890s, a three-story brick monastery completed in the early 1900s, and a 130-foot campanile in the corner where they meet. The monastery has a slate roof, a rubble stone foundation and plain, cell-like interiors suited to monastic life, while the chapel is more ornate. The site was first occupied in 1843-44 by an observatory built by Ormsby McKnight Mitchell. The Passionist order leased the property in 1872, converted the observatory into a monastery and later replaced it with the present buildings. The nomination values the group mainly for its setting: it is a visual landmark from the downtown basin and from the Mt. Adams business district, and it reflects the importance of religion to the neighborhood. At the time of listing the buildings were vacant and adaptive reuse was being sought.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect: Messrs. Picket & Son; Builder: John Foley, Contractor","architectural_style":"Simple style with some Renaissance overtones (reviewer notes cite Renaissance Revival)","criteria":[],"status_note":"The complex stands vacant; the chapel has been closed since 1970 and the monastery since the summer of 1977. Local groups were working with the owners toward adaptive reuse.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.356669-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/78002078.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002078/0653278823-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002078/0653278823-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Photo by Greg Hume (Greg5030)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HolyCrossMonastery.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Photo by Greg Hume (Greg5030)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HolyCrossMonastery.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989157","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Cross_Monastery_and_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5885283"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/hamilton-county/holy-cross-monastery-and-chapel-78002078/"}