{"nrhp_refnum":"85002419","name":"Church of the Redeemer","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1202 Riverside Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.62452592500006,"lon":-82.59229382099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-09-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small native stone cruciform chapel in Romanesque style on a bluff above the French Broad River, about one mile north of Asheville, North Carolina, built 1886-88 and presumably by Dr. Francis Willis. The nominated area includes a small cemetery above the chapel.","why_significant":"The chapel is argued to be architecturally significant as a faithful representation of a small Romanesque chapel. It is also an atypical building for the southern mountains, reflecting the arrival of national and international culture in western North Carolina after the railroad came in the 1880s. It began as a private chapel for the patients of a British physician.","narrative":"Overlooking the French Broad River just north of Asheville, this small cruciform chapel is built of locally quarried ashlar stone and covered by a steep slate roof with scalloped bands. Dr. Francis Willis, a British physician who emigrated in 1883, had it built between 1886 and 1888 on his estate as a place of worship, mainly for his patients. Local people supplied the labor. It was first called St. Philip's, and in 1898 Willis deeded it to the Episcopal missionary district. It was consecrated as the Church of the Redeemer in 1901. Inside are a hammer beam roof, a Gothic rood screen added around 1920, and a signed Tiffany window in the north transept. A small cemetery above the church, which holds members of the Willis family, is included in the nominated property. The chapel is recognized as a faithful Romanesque design and as an unusual building for the mountain region, reflecting the cosmopolitan newcomers who arrived after the railroad reached Asheville in 1880.","period_of_significance":"1886-88","architect_builder":"Dr. Francis Willis (presumed)","architectural_style":"Romanesque (small Romanesque chapel)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as an active Episcopal church; the form rates its condition excellent and unaltered. The parish house is excluded from the nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.362007-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/46/7192/47719246/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/85002419.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002419/f043fec1a1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002419/f043fec1a1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Upstateherd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_the_Redeemer,_Asheville,_NC_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Upstateherd</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:Church_of_the_Redeemer,_Asheville,_NC_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719246","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Redeemer_(Asheville,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17986484"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/church-of-the-redeemer-85002419/"}