{"nrhp_refnum":"86001907","name":"Dorland Memorial Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Bridge St. at Meadow Ln.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hot Springs","county":"Madison County","state":"NC","lat":35.892336958000044,"lon":-82.82853096699995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-07-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Dorland Memorial Presbyterian Church is a pebbledash church building on the north side of Bridge Street in the village of Hot Springs, Madison County, North Carolina. It was built in 1900 with a modified cruciform plan, and a stucco-on-block educational wing was added to the west in 1958.","why_significant":"The church is argued to be significant as an architect-designed, nontraditional building in a rural mountain village, designed by Asheville architect R. S. Smith. It is also tied to the Dorland (later Dorland-Bell) School founded by Dr. Luke Dorland, and to prominent Presbyterian ministers Francis McGaw and Woodward Finley, who were foreign missionaries.","narrative":"Built in 1900 on a small lot close to Bridge Street in Hot Springs, a village on the French Broad River in the North Carolina mountains, Dorland Memorial Presbyterian Church has a modified cruciform plan, splayed gable roofs, pebbledash walls, and a four-sided belfry topped by an octagonal steeple. Asheville architect R. S. Smith designed it, and local carpenter Zeke Goforth built it. Smith had supervised construction of Biltmore House before practising in Asheville, and the church is regarded as an exceptional village building for its architect-designed form in a modest rural setting. Its memorial stained glass windows are notable in the mountain context. The church was named for Dr. Luke Dorland, a Presbyterian minister who founded a school in Hot Springs that became Dorland-Bell School, which closed in 1942 when it merged into Warren Wilson College. Ministers including Francis McGaw and Woodward Finley, both foreign missionaries, served the congregation. The church remains one of the few surviving links to that school in town.","period_of_significance":"1900","architect_builder":"R. S. Smith (architect); Zeke Goforth (builder)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Still plays an important role in Hot Springs community and religious life, with an active membership.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.040499-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/51/7211/47721151/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/86001907.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001907/05cf3fe50e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001907/05cf3fe50e-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorland_Memorial_Presbyterian_Church,_Hot_Springs,_NC_(39706781173).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States</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:Dorland_Memorial_Presbyterian_Church,_Hot_Springs,_NC_(39706781173).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"08001413","name":"Hot Springs Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/hot-springs-historic-district-08001413/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721151","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorland_Memorial_Presbyterian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5298049"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/madison-county/dorland-memorial-presbyterian-church-86001907/"}