{"nrhp_refnum":"95001127","name":"Castroville Japanese Language School","other_names":["Castroville Nihon Gakko"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"11199 Geil St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Castroville","county":"Monterey County","state":"CA","lat":36.76509702800007,"lon":-121.75107665999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-10-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Education","Asian"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small single-story wood-frame building at 11199 Geil Street in Castroville, Monterey County, California, finished in 1936 to serve as a Japanese language school, Buddhist temple and community meeting hall.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building symbolizes the denial of constitutional rights to Japanese Americans, as the community lost it after Executive Order 9066 in February 1942. It is also significant for education and social history, since it housed language classes, religious services and gatherings for a poor farming community. It was left unused after the 1942 evacuation, except for brief use as a hostel for returning internees.","narrative":"Built in 1936 on the corner of Pajaro and Geil streets in Castroville, this plain rectangular wood-frame building served a Japanese farming community as a language school, Buddhist temple and meeting hall. It sits on concrete piers, has shiplap walls and a shingled roof, and its only distinctive feature is a slightly hipped, temple-style roof with exposed rafters and simple lattice ventilation. Inside, a large assembly room, a niche for an altar, a kitchen and storage for funerary urns made up the floor plan. Children attended the public elementary school across the street and then walked over for language lessons. The community used the building for only six years. After Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, its members were sent to camps, and the building was left empty apart from brief use as a hostel by returning internees. The nomination presents it as a reminder of the discrimination faced by Japanese Americans and of a farming community that was dispersed.","period_of_significance":"1936-1942, 1944-1945","architect_builder":"Kobayashi/Master Carpenter; Keizo Motokane/Master Carpenter","architectural_style":"Other/Hipped Temple Roof","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Described as abandoned in 1942 and never reoccupied apart from brief use as a hostel; current function listed as vacant/not in use. Roof shows neglect and weather damage, but historic integrity is described as good.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:26.989536-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/95001127.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95001127/ec2c99a966-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95001127/ec2c99a966-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DanaPayne","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castroville_Japanese_Language_Schoolhouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">DanaPayne</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castroville_Japanese_Language_Schoolhouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859903","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castroville_Japanese_Language_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14681718"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/monterey-county/castroville-japanese-language-school-95001127/"}