{"nrhp_refnum":"98000067","name":"Church of the Epiphany","other_names":["See also:West Jackson Blvd. Historic District"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"201 S. Ashland Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.87873418200007,"lon":-87.66638125999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-02-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Episcopal church complex at 201 South Ashland Avenue on Chicago's Near West Side, built in 1885 with a parish house and an eighty-foot bell tower completed in 1887. It was designed by Francis M. Whitehouse of Burling and Whitehouse.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the church is one of Chicago's premier examples of Richardsonian Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture, with rusticated Lake Superior sandstone, a bold bell tower and a large open truss interior. It also reflects the affluence of the West Side in the 1880s and the congregation's Oxford movement sympathies. The interior is largely intact apart from the roof and parish house changes.","narrative":"Built in 1885 at Ashland Avenue and Adams Street on Chicago's Near West Side, this Episcopal church was designed by Francis M. Whitehouse of Burling and Whitehouse in the manner of Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Red-brown Lake Superior sandstone, first used in Chicago on this building, gives the exterior a fortress-like look. Four gabled walls, round-arched clerestory windows, squat paired columns and an eighty-foot bell tower, finished in 1887, define the design. Inside, an open truss roof spans a wide space without pillars, and a sandstone reredos carries mosaics and carved panels. Victorian touches such as cherry woodwork, terra cotta tile and stenciling set the interior apart from Richardson's own work. At the time, it was the most expensive building of the Episcopal Diocese of Illinois. The church was built in a fashionable West Side neighborhood and remains in religious use, with a parish house containing offices and school classrooms. Its architecture is the basis of its listing.","period_of_significance":"1885-1887","architect_builder":"Francis M. Whitehouse of Burling and Whitehouse","architectural_style":"Romanesque (Richardsonian Romanesque)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a religious facility; the parish house holds parish offices and classrooms for Saint Gregory's School. The original slate roof has been replaced with asphalt.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.534822-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/17/8921/28892117/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/98000067.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000067/b3da014d2b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000067/b3da014d2b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Andrew Jameson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_the_Epiphany_Chicago_IL.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Andrew Jameson</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:Church_of_the_Epiphany_Chicago_IL.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"12000040","name":"Chicago Park Boulevard System Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/chicago-park-boulevard-system-historic-district-12000040/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892117","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Epiphany_(Chicago)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5117839"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/church-of-the-epiphany-98000067/"}