{"nrhp_refnum":"96000969","name":"St. Peter's Church","other_names":["Old St. Peter's Church","See Also:Society Hill Historic Distri"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of 3rd and Pine Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.94309408050003,"lon":-75.14804547417151,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-06-18","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1996-06-18","areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church is a brick Georgian-style church at the southwest corner of Third and Pine Streets in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, set within a walled churchyard. Construction began in 1758 and was completed in 1761, with interior fittings continuing through 1764, under the supervision of master builder Robert Smith.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is nationally significant for its unusual interior plan, which placed the altar at the east end and the pulpit and reading desk opposite at the west end on a direct axis down the central aisle. It describes this as an innovative and rare response to Anglican liturgy and as an exceptionally well-preserved example of mid-18th-century Georgian architecture by one of colonial America's leading builders.","narrative":"Brick Georgian church on the southwest corner of Third and Pine Streets in Philadelphia's Society Hill, built between 1758 and 1761 under master builder Robert Smith, with interior fittings completed by 1764. The church was planned as a chapel of ease for Christ Church, the city's Anglican parish, and later became a co-equal parish. Its walls are 22-inch brick laid in Flemish bond, with rusticated quoins, limestone keystones, and a large Palladian window at the east end. The main interior feature is its opposed plan: the altar sits at the east end while the pulpit and reading desk sit at the west end on the central axis. The nomination regards this arrangement as a rare and innovative response to Anglican liturgy, and it is considered one of only a few surviving examples of its type in colonial America. The bell tower and wooden spire, with eight bronze bells, were added in 1842 to designs attributed to William Strickland. The churchyard holds graves and mature trees within a brick wall with wrought-iron gates.","period_of_significance":"1758-1875","architect_builder":"Robert Smith (1722-1777) (builder-architect); William Strickland (1788-1854) (architect of the 1842 tower and spire)","architectural_style":"Georgian","criteria":["A","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 17:11:30.285988-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/96000969_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000969/db05aa8635-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000969/db05aa8635-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"The original uploader was FactsAndHonesty at English Wikipedia.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StptrschurchDec2006.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">The original uploader was FactsAndHonesty at English Wikipedia.</a>, <a href=\"http://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:StptrschurchDec2006.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"71000065","name":"Society Hill Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/society-hill-historic-district-71000065/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994315","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Philadelphia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3583707"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/st-peters-church-96000969/"}