{"nrhp_refnum":"84000959","name":"St. Philip AME Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"613 W. Broad St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Savannah","county":"Chatham County","state":"GA","lat":32.07046660700007,"lon":-81.10133311599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-08-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Romanesque style brick and cement church at 613 West Broad Street in Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, built in 1911-12 to designs by architect John A. Lankford and constructed by Pharrow Construction Company.","why_significant":"The church is an excellent example of Romanesque architecture applied to a religious building, with its columns, arches, stained glass and masonry. It is the work of noted black architect John A. Lankford. It is also the Mother Church of Georgia's A.M.E. congregations, the first founded in the state in 1865, and has been a focal point of black religious and social life in Savannah.","narrative":"Saint Philip A.M.E. Church is a three-story Romanesque style building at 613 West Broad Street in Savannah, built in 1911-12 of brick and cement that imitates limestone. Its east front has a central section with three double doors and a large round stained-glass window, flanked by a small tower and a larger bell tower. Romanesque columns, arches and blue and green stained glass define the design. It was designed by John A. Lankford, a Tuskegee-trained black architect who served as supervising architect for the A.M.E. General Conference and wrote a builders' guide for churches. The congregation, organized in 1865 by the Reverend A.L. Stanford, was the first A.M.E. congregation in Georgia and is called the Mother Church of the state's A.M.E. churches. It served the black community's religious and social needs, hosting concerts and commencements, and drew many teachers and artisans. The church remains in use, with changes made in the 1930s and 1983-84.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific dates 1911-12)","architect_builder":"John A. Lankford, Architect; Pharrow Construction Company, Builders","architectural_style":"Romanesque","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Occupied and in religious use; the south stairway was replaced by an elevator, the interior reworked, windows reglazed and a new metal roof installed in 1983-84. The upper south wall was rebuilt in the 1930s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:42.691711-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/84000959.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000959/00a1eb74b9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000959/00a1eb74b9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ebyabe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Savannah_St_Philip_AME02.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ebyabe</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:GA_Savannah_St_Philip_AME02.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207357","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q126726802"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/chatham-county/st-philip-ame-church-84000959/"}