{"nrhp_refnum":"80001201","name":"St. Christoper's Normal and Industrial Parish School","other_names":["First African Baptist Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"900 5th Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Columbus","county":"Muscogee County","state":"GA","lat":32.46301574800003,"lon":-84.98616478499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Romanesque Revival brick school building at 900 5th Avenue in Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia, built in 1916 for St. Christopher's Normal and Industrial Parish School.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a local example of early 20th-century school architecture in the Black community, with a simple design suggesting functionalism driven by financial necessity. It is also significant for education as an early church-affiliated, apparently private school in Columbus' Black community.","narrative":"Built in 1916 at 900 5th Avenue in Columbus, Georgia, this two-story brick building began as St. Christopher's Normal and Industrial Parish School, tied to St. Christopher's Episcopal Church. City directories show it carrying both school and church names by 1918. First African Baptist Church, located across the street, later bought the property and converted it into a child care center; it now serves as a church annex. The building has a flat roof, common bond brickwork, round-arched windows with radiating voussoirs, corbelled brick string courses, a stepped parapet, and a one-story entrance porch with a crenelated parapet. It sits among Victorian and Greek Revival houses and commercial buildings from about 1900. Its listing rests on two points: it represents school architecture in the Black community in the early 1900s, with a plain design that suggests limited funds, and it served as an early church-affiliated school for Black residents of Columbus. Its condition is described as fair.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as a church annex, formerly a child care center; described as in fair condition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.544777-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/80001201.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001201/05d604cf3a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001201/05d604cf3a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Dennis O'Kain","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Christopher%27s_Normal_%26_Industrial_Parish_School,_900_Fifth_Avenue,_Columbus_(Muscogee_County,_Georgia).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dennis O'Kain</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Christopher%27s_Normal_%26_Industrial_Parish_School,_900_Fifth_Avenue,_Columbus_(Muscogee_County,_Georgia).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206526","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15378742"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/muscogee-county/st-christopers-normal-and-industrial-parish-school-80001201/"}