{"nrhp_refnum":"79001951","name":"St. Louis Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"300 N. Chapel St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Louisville","county":"Stark County","state":"OH","lat":40.83900900100008,"lon":-81.25911638499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-02-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["European","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Gothic-style Catholic church at 300 North Chapel Street in Louisville, Stark County, Ohio, built between 1870 and 1875 and designed by the parish priest, Father Louis Hoffer.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an excellent example of High Victorian Gothic architecture. It also calls it the most notable manifestation of the French heritage of Louisville, which French Catholic immigrants settled beginning in 1826. The exterior keeps essentially its 1875 appearance.","narrative":"St. Louis Church is a rectangular brick building on a stone foundation, 60 feet wide and 130 feet long, at 300 North Chapel Street in Louisville, Ohio. Twin square towers about 100 feet tall flank the facade, which has a Gothic arched entrance, blind arcades, and a circular rose window. Construction ran from 1870 to 1875, led by the parish priest, Father Louis Hoffer, who supervised the work and designed the church, reportedly patterned on a small village cathedral in France. Cleveland architect Frank Walsh designed the interior. Parishioners supplied materials from their farms and helped with labor. The church replaced an earlier brick building, completed in 1838, that had grown too small. It is tied to French Catholic families who left eastern France in 1826 and settled around Louisville. The interior has been altered several times since 1904, but the exterior largely keeps its 1875 look, apart from added copper spires, a marble statue of St. Louis, and a green tile roof.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Father Louis Hoffer (interior designed by Cleveland architect Frank Walsh)","architectural_style":"High Victorian Gothic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a religious property; condition listed as good, altered, on its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.1056-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001951.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001951/e4fff8f106-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001951/e4fff8f106-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Roseohioresident","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louisville,_Ohio_-_St._Louis_2011-02-04.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Roseohioresident</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louisville,_Ohio_-_St._Louis_2011-02-04.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"11000856","name":"Louisville Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/louisville-historic-district-11000856/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991430","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Church_(Louisville,_Ohio)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7589594"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/stark-county/st-louis-church-79001951/"}