{"nrhp_refnum":"84002213","name":"St. Thomas Epsicopal Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"115 High St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Taunton","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.89727487500005,"lon":-71.09025871099993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Thomas Episcopal Church is a stone Gothic Revival church at 115 High Street in Taunton, Massachusetts, built 1857-59 and designed by Richard Upjohn. A chapel was added in 1869.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the most stylistically outstanding masonry building Richard Upjohn designed in Taunton. It follows a basilica plan with restrained Gothic Revival ornament typical of his 1850s church designs, and it uses limestone trim and wrought iron roof cresting. It also has secondary importance as a religious institution built for a growing congregation.","narrative":"Built between 1857 and 1859 at 115 High Street in Taunton, St. Thomas Episcopal Church is a masonry Gothic Revival building designed by architect Richard Upjohn. It replaced the city's first Episcopal church, a wooden building of 1829 that could no longer serve a growing congregation by the 1840s. After a long subscription campaign raised $30,000, construction began in 1857 and the church was consecrated in 1859. A chapel costing $15,000 was added in 1869. The church follows a basilica plan with a clerestory, a steeply pitched slate roof, paired pointed-arched stained glass windows in the aisles, round clerestory windows and limestone buttresses. Limestone trim and decorative wrought iron roof cresting set it apart from Upjohn's plainer Taunton works, the Trinitarian Church and the Academy Building. It was listed for its architectural distinction and, secondarily, for its role as a religious institution serving a growing congregation.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Richard Upjohn","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still in use as a church; the form lists its present use as church and states that it has not been altered or moved.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.511642-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/61/7894/63789461/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002213.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002213/0bca403497-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002213/0bca403497-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Thomas_Taunton.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Thomas_Taunton.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789461","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Thomas_Episcopal_Church_(Taunton,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7591958"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/st-thomas-epsicopal-church-84002213/"}