{"nrhp_refnum":"91000627","name":"First Congregational Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2 Clay St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Malone","county":"Franklin County","state":"NY","lat":44.84908857100004,"lon":-74.28819401899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-06-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Romanesque-style stone church at 2 Clay Street, at the corner of Clay and Main Streets in the village of Malone, Franklin County, New York. It was built in 1883 to designs by Tristram Griffin of Boston.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is architecturally significant as a finely crafted and exceptionally intact late-nineteenth century interpretation of Romanesque church architecture. It also reflects the prominence of its congregation, the oldest and largest Christian congregation in Franklin County. It is the oldest church in Malone and the oldest extant large-scale Congregational church in northern New York.","narrative":"Rising 105 feet at its tower, this Romanesque church sits at the corner of Clay and Main Streets in Malone, Franklin County. Built in 1883 for the area's oldest Congregational society, it is made of rough-cut local blue limestone with gray granite arches and terra cotta finials. Its T-shaped plan holds a broad meetinghouse-style auditorium with a hammerbeam roof, cherry and birch woodwork, and stained glass, including a window by the Munich Glass Works. Architect Tristram Griffin of Boston drew on the work of Henry Hobson Richardson but departed from pure Richardsonian Romanesque, using a gable roof, a rose window within a pointed arch, and buttresses. It is the third church on the site, after an 1826 stone church and an 1852 brick church. Vice-President William Almon Wheeler, a lifelong member, paid a quarter of the roughly $46,000 cost. The building remains largely unaltered and is a landmark of the village and its congregation's long standing.","period_of_significance":"1883-1940","architect_builder":"Tristram Griffin","architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used as a religious facility; the form says it remains substantially as built in 1883, with minor modifications such as a choir loft expansion, a basement entrance and a handicapped ramp.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.307015-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/91000627.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000627/7aef157b84-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000627/7aef157b84-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Upstate New York","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Congregational_Church_Malone_NY_Nov_10.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Upstate New York</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Congregational_Church_Malone_NY_Nov_10.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100011536","name":"Malone Residential Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/malone-residential-historic-district-100011536/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317824","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Congregational_Church_(Malone,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5452805"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/franklin-county/first-congregational-church-91000627/"}