{"nrhp_refnum":"96000082","name":"St. Mary's Episcopal Church","other_names":["Old St. Mary's Church"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Warwick Rd., Warwick Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Elverson","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":40.16597082800007,"lon":-75.78086637499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-02-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story rural Gothic Revival church hall in Warwick Village, Warwick Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, with a surrounding cemetery and stone enclosing wall. The church was rebuilt in 1843 in native fieldstone covered with stucco, on the site of an 1806 congregation.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is architecturally important as an intact example of early Gothic Revival ecclesiastical design, retaining exterior appearance from 1843 with only a belfry added in 1909. It cites the carved altar and choir screens as unusual interior features and the cemetery, wall and burials as part of its integrity.","narrative":"Built in 1843 on the site of an 1806 congregation in Warwick Village, Chester County, this one-story church hall is constructed of fieldstone covered in lime stucco and set within a cemetery enclosed by a stone wall. Its plan is a rectangular Church Hall with a double entrance in the south gable end, tall clear-glass pointed-arch windows on all sides, and a square belfry added in 1909. The interior has a canted floor, a raised chancel, and carved altar and choir screens; the choir screens were a memorial gift and the reredos is regarded as unusual for the area. The church was rearranged after 1880 to reflect Oxford Movement liturgical practice, including a center aisle and the removal of box pews. Its exterior is regarded as retaining an exceptionally high degree of integrity to the 1843 date, and its burial ground includes stones dating to the 1770s.","period_of_significance":"1843-1909","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"MID-19TH CENTURY/Gothic Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.599701-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/96000082.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000082/b4fd756fee-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000082/b4fd756fee-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_St_Marys_Chesco.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</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:Old_St_Marys_Chesco.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998520","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Elverson,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16932905"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/st-marys-episcopal-church-96000082/"}