{"nrhp_refnum":"79001837","name":"Holy Cross Church, Rectory and School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"212 S. 5th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Columbus","county":"Franklin County","state":"OH","lat":39.95826529900006,"lon":-82.99295048499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-04-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex of three brick buildings (a Gothic Revival church, a rectory and a school) on a half-acre site at 212 S. Fifth Street on the edge of downtown Columbus, Ohio. The church was dedicated in 1848, the rectory completed in 1860 and the school in 1870.","why_significant":"The church is argued to be an excellent example of early Gothic Revival architecture and the oldest church structure standing in downtown Columbus. The rectory and school are well-preserved mid-nineteenth-century buildings. Historically, the parish was organized in 1833 as the first Roman Catholic parish in the city, and the complex shows the religious and educational influence of the Catholic Church in Columbus.","narrative":"Holy Cross Church, its rectory and its school form a small group of brick buildings on a half-acre site at the edge of downtown Columbus. The church, dedicated in 1848 and designed by Cornelius Jacobs, is an early Gothic Revival building with pointed arch windows, stained glass, stepped buttresses and a central tower and spire added before 1858. A three-story sacristy by architect George H. Maetzel followed in 1877. The interior retains frescoed walls and ceiling and carved wood pulpit and altars. The rectory dates from 1860 and the school from 1870, both simple brick buildings with six-over-six windows, and a cast iron fence encloses the complex. The parish, called Herlige Krues (Holy Cross), was organized in 1833 as the first Roman Catholic parish in Columbus. The church is the oldest church structure standing downtown, and it survives amid newer office and residential buildings erected after 1960s urban renewal clearance.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Cornelius Jacobs (architect of the church); Joseph Sattler (mason foreman); George H. Maetzel (designed the 1877 addition)","architectural_style":"Early Gothic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in private ownership, and used for religious and educational purposes; the form says the parish and diocese are interested in its continued preservation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.182546-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001837.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001837/95b198d81f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001837/95b198d81f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Nheyob","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holy_Cross_Catholic_Church_(Columbus,_Ohio)_-_exterior_photo_from_4th_Street.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nheyob</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holy_Cross_Catholic_Church_(Columbus,_Ohio)_-_exterior_photo_from_4th_Street.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100012406","name":"Market-Mohawk Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/market-mohawk-historic-district-100012406/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988334","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Cross_Church_(Columbus,_Ohio)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5885132"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/franklin-county/holy-cross-church-rectory-and-school-79001837/"}