{"nrhp_refnum":"79000546","name":"St. James Square Historic District","other_names":["St. James Park"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by N. 1st, N. 4th, E. St. James, and E. St. John Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Jose","county":"Santa Clara County","state":"CA","lat":37.339003273500026,"lon":-121.89137189731592,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district in downtown San Jose, California, centered on St. James Park (two square blocks) and surrounded by government buildings, churches and private clubs dating from 1863 to 1933. The square was platted in 1848 by surveyor Charles S. Lyman.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the district as the best remaining example in San Jose of late nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings gathered around an identifiable core. It combines an urban park with courthouses, churches and clubs in a range of revival styles. These buildings give residents a tangible sense of time and place.","narrative":"St. James Square is a downtown San Jose district built around a two-block public park first reserved in the 1848 city survey by Charles S. Lyman. Around the park stand two courthouses, a post office, three churches, three private clubs and a commercial building, mostly dating from 1863 to the 1930s. Notable examples include the 1866 Santa Clara County Courthouse by Levi Goodrich, the 1863 Carpenter Gothic Trinity Episcopal Church, the 1893 Sainte Claire Club by A. Page Brown, the 1904 First Church of Christ, Scientist by Willis Polk, and the 1924 Scottish Rite Temple. The park holds monuments to President McKinley and General Naglee and kept its diagonal walkway pattern. The district was listed for its architecture, landscape and community planning value. It is described as the city's best remaining gathering of nineteenth and early twentieth century civic, religious and social buildings around a central open space. A 1960s courthouse tower and community center are classed as nonconforming.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900-","architect_builder":"Willis Polk; A. Page Brown; Carl Werner; G.W. Page; John W. Hammond; Ralph Wyckoff; Levi Goodrich; Frederick Law Olmstead (park, 1868)","architectural_style":"Mixed styles: Gothic Revival (Carpenter Gothic), Greek Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, Romanesque Revival, Neo-Classical, Renaissance Revival, Mediterranean (Mission Revival), International","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition rated good. Most buildings remain in use, including the courthouse and Trinity Episcopal Church. The Christ Scientist church serves as a children's theater rehearsal hall, and the Scottish Rite Temple was being adapted as a private athletic club.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.43752-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/79000546.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000546/d7a9f1301e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000546/d7a9f1301e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Semiautonomous","credit_html":"Semiautonomous, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._James_Park_in_the_City_of_San_Jose_06.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861799","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q49555794"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/santa-clara-county/st-james-square-historic-district-79000546/"}