{"nrhp_refnum":"91001170","name":"St. Philip's Moravian Church","other_names":["St. Philip's Moravian Church in Salem","See Also:Old Salem His"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E side, S. Church St. near Race St., Old Salem","address_restricted":false,"city":"Winston-Salem","county":"Forsyth County","state":"NC","lat":36.08448520500008,"lon":-80.24050703499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-09-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A red brick, gable-front Greek Revival church on the east side of South Church Street in Old Salem, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, built in 1861 and enlarged with a front addition in 1890.","why_significant":"It is described as the oldest surviving church building of a black congregation in Forsyth County and the only known antebellum black church building left in North Carolina. It represents one of the oldest continuously existing black congregations in the South. The simple gable-front design was typical of mid-nineteenth-century churches in the county, and it is the only one of its kind to survive.","narrative":"Set back about fifty feet from South Church Street at the southern edge of Old Salem, this red brick church was built in 1861 for a black Moravian congregation. The original block measured forty by sixty feet, with a standing seam tin roof, tall nine-over-nine windows and a small rear apse. In 1890 the congregation added a twenty-four-foot front section containing a central hall, two classrooms and a balcony with a sawnwork fleur-de-lis railing. The interior keeps plaster walls, wainscoting and the marks of the original pews. The congregation grew from a separate black church founded in 1822 and organized in 1823, and it is described as the oldest surviving black church building in Forsyth County and the only known antebellum black church building left in North Carolina. The congregation used the building until 1952 and later moved elsewhere in Winston-Salem. The building has stood unoccupied since then and needs stabilization. Graves from an earlier parish graveyard lie in the front yard.","period_of_significance":"1861-1940","architect_builder":"Houser, Charles, brickmason; Swink, George, carpenter","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as vacant and not in use; the congregation left in the 1950s. The building has suffered water, insect and animal damage, and the northwest corner of the 1890 addition is cracked and sagging.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.466535-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/7202/47720216/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/91001170.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001170/5e863d09fa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001170/5e863d09fa-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Upstateherd","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Phillips_Moravian_Church.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:St._Phillips_Moravian_Church.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000591","name":"Old Salem Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/old-salem-historic-district-66000591/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720216","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Philips_Moravian_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7591523"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/forsyth-county/st-philips-moravian-church-91001170/"}