{"nrhp_refnum":"82002261","name":"Christian Church of Gilroy","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"160 5th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gilroy","county":"Santa Clara County","state":"CA","lat":37.00784292800006,"lon":-121.57160816499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-04-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small Greek Revival church building at 160 Fifth Street in Gilroy, Santa Clara County, California, built in 1857 for a Christian Church congregation and moved a few blocks to its present site in 1885.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the oldest surviving meeting house built by the Christian denomination in California and the oldest ecclesiastical building in Gilroy. It has served as a church continuously since 1857. It is also described as an excellent western adaptation of Greek Revival architecture.","narrative":"Built in 1857, this modest 1½-story wooden church at 160 Fifth Street in Gilroy is described as a western adaptation of Greek Revival design. It has a three-bay front, a gable roof and a three-stage bell tower with scroll brackets and an original-looking bell from San Francisco. The congregation formed in 1855 and built the meeting house on land belonging to rancher Massey Thomas. Disputes over Mexican land grants forced the building to be moved a few blocks in August 1885, when a contractor renovated it and improved the tower. In 1859 it hosted a state gathering of the faith that drew about 1,000 people. The Christian Church is described as the first congregation in California to build its own meeting house, and the building is the oldest surviving one of its denomination in the state. After the original congregation closed in 1963, a Latin American Assemblies of God congregation bought it in 1967 and still uses it, with interior changes.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival (western adaptation)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a church by a Latin American Assemblies of God congregation since 1967; described as in fair condition, altered, on mud sill foundations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.188209-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/82002261.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002261/3abc3411fe-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002261/3abc3411fe-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Eugene Zelenko","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USA-Gilroy-Christian_Church-1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Eugene Zelenko</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:USA-Gilroy-Christian_Church-1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861653","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Church_of_Gilroy","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5109429"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/santa-clara-county/christian-church-of-gilroy-82002261/"}