{"nrhp_refnum":"83003149","name":"Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of Peace","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"FM 340","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sweet Home","county":"Lavaca County","state":"TX","lat":29.34234993000007,"lon":-97.06925167699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-06-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Gothic Revival Catholic church on FM Road 340 in the rural community of Sweet Home, Lavaca County, Texas, built in 1918 by contractors Vincent Falbo and M. Deodati.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the church as a good example of a brick Gothic Revival building, with patterned contrasting brickwork, and as the major landmark of Sweet Home. Its interior has well-executed marbling and stenciling combined with naive freehand painting. It also reflects the Bohemian Catholic farming community that settled the area in 1860.","narrative":"Rising above the farmland of Sweet Home in Lavaca County, this 1918 brick church is the main landmark of the community. Rectangular in plan, it has a massive truncated tower projecting from the entrance. Red brick is accented with raised corbel tables of buff, gray and green brick, Greek cross string courses and checkerboard patterns. Tall lancet windows with stained glass and brick hood molds light the building. Inside, wooden columns with Corinthian capitals are painted to imitate marble, and the pressed metal ceiling has stenciled beams. A freehand mural of the Ascension decorates the apse. Catholic Bohemian farming families settled the area in 1860, formed their parish in 1895, and first worshipped in a remodeled dance hall. Contractors Vincent Falbo and M. Deodati built the church and later built a related, more elaborate church in Shiner. A 1967 tornado destroyed the original spire. The building is valued as a good Gothic Revival brick structure with notable decorative interior painting.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect unknown; builders Vincent Falbo, contractor, and M. Deodati, associate contractor","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"A 1967 tornado destroyed the original eight-sided spire and severely damaged the church; exterior repairs followed and the interior was redecorated.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.262527-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/9698/40969844/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/83003149.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003149/afe2d1f894-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003149/afe2d1f894-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"25or6to4","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary,_the_Queen_of_Peace.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">25or6to4</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary,_the_Queen_of_Peace.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969844","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary,_the_Queen_of_Peace","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5117825"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/lavaca-county/church-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-the-queen-of-peace-83003149/"}