{"nrhp_refnum":"79002830","name":"St. Sebastian Catholic Church and Rectory","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Sebastian Rd. and OH 716-A","address_restricted":false,"city":"St. Sebastian","county":"Mercer County","state":"OH","lat":40.44431769400006,"lon":-84.51653323399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-07-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Gothic-style brick Catholic church (1904-1905) and its companion brick rectory at the northeast corner of Sebastian Road and State Route 716-A in St. Sebastian, Mercer County, Ohio. Both were designed and built by Andrew De Curtins of Lima.","why_significant":"The church is a Gothic design with a slate-covered spire, sandstone trim and a vaulted interior with High Gothic reredos. It was rebuilt after a 1903 fire that followed a dispute with the neighboring Chickasaw parish over the church's location. Together with the 1905 rectory, it is part of a thematic group of cross-tipped churches in western Ohio.","narrative":"Isolated in the Mercer County countryside, St. Sebastian Catholic Church is a pressed-brick Gothic church completed in 1904-1905, with a brick rectory built beside it in 1905. Andrew De Curtins of Lima designed and built both. The church has a slate-covered spire with four Gothic peaks above an arched, louvered belfry, and sandstone trim accents the buttresses and emphasizes the building's vertical lines. Inside, a vaulted ceiling and High Gothic peaked reredos stand out. The parish dates to 1852, when a frame church was built, followed by a brick church in 1879 that was enlarged in 1894. A dispute with the nearby Chickasaw parish over where the church should stand ended in a fire in 1903 that destroyed the building. After an investigation by the Archbishop, the present church replaced it. The rectory is a square, hip-roofed brick house with a date stone reading 1905 and a gabled entrance porch with wooden columns. Both buildings remain in use.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Andrew De Curtins (De Curtins, Lima)","architectural_style":"Gothic (church); Vernacular (rectory)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Church and rectory both in use; interior and exterior condition listed as good.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.048298-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79002830.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002830/49acfa0caa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002830/49acfa0caa-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Sebastian%27s_at_Sebastian_front_and_eastern_side.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Sebastian%27s_at_Sebastian_front_and_eastern_side.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71985869","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Sebastian%27s_Catholic_Church_(Sebastian,_Ohio)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7591660"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/mercer-county/st-sebastian-catholic-church-and-rectory-79002830/"}