{"nrhp_refnum":"83002259","name":"High German Evangelical Reformed Church","other_names":["Zion Reformed","Zion United Church of Christ"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"620 Hamilton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Allentown","county":"Lehigh County","state":"PA","lat":40.602397730000064,"lon":-75.45821558299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-07-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Zion Reformed Church is a church building on a narrow lot along a major commercial street in downtown Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, with its street entrance on Hamilton Street. The original congregation's log church dated to 1762, and the present Gothic Revival building took its form through renovations between 1886 and 1888.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is a fine example of late Victorian Gothic Revival architecture and has been a local landmark in Allentown for almost a century. It also states that the church is one of the few buildings representing the beginnings of the town, since a church has stood on the site since the town was laid out in 1762. The church is said to have hidden the Liberty Bell in 1777 while the British occupied Philadelphia.","narrative":"Along a commercial street in downtown Allentown, the Zion Reformed Church occupies a narrow lot framed by office buildings. Its Hamilton Street facade is dark random ashlar with light stone archivolts, belt courses and false arcading, and it is flanked by a three-and-a-half-story northwest tower with four gables and a steeple and a shorter northeast tower with a dormer. A congregation has worshipped on this site since 1762, when a log church was built; a Federal style stone building followed in 1773. Between 1886 and 1888, the building was remodeled into its present Gothic Revival form, with the architect Lewis Jacoby contracted in 1886. The interior features a large four-lancet stained glass window in the chancel, hammerbeams that simulate a crossing, and extensive stenciling. The church is regarded as one of the most outstanding architectural examples in Allentown, and it is valued locally for its role as a center of religious life since the eighteenth century.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Lewis Jacoby (architect, 1886-1888)","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival (late Victorian)","criteria":[],"status_note":"The building is described as altered, with the only notable change since 1888 being a stone entrance built in 1962 on the northeast tower.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.262541-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/83002259.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002259/eb9eeb9eab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002259/eb9eeb9eab-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2011_-_Zion_Reformed_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2011_-_Zion_Reformed_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994483","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_German_Evangelical_Reformed_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15223900"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lehigh-county/high-german-evangelical-reformed-church-83002259/"}