{"nrhp_refnum":"99000587","name":"Holy Cross Church","other_names":["Eastside Community Center"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"14 N. Van Buren St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Batavia","county":"Kane County","state":"IL","lat":41.85021702200004,"lon":-88.30273489799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-05-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Holy Cross Church is a Late Victorian Gothic Revival limestone church at 14 North Van Buren Street on the east side of Batavia, Kane County, Illinois, built in 1896-97 with locally quarried stone.","why_significant":"The church is locally significant under architecture as a good example of Late Victorian Gothic Revival design, with a 125-foot tower, pointed arches, buttresses, a steep roof and a rose window. It also shows locally quarried limestone construction, built largely with donated stone and parishioner labor during a national depression.","narrative":"Built in 1896-97 on the east side of Batavia, Illinois, Holy Cross Church is a Gothic Revival building of locally quarried limestone. Its 125-foot bell tower, pointed arches, buttresses, steep roof and ten-foot rose window give it a strongly vertical profile, and its stained glass windows remain intact. The church served a parish of Irish quarry workers and their families. Construction began in 1896, a year of national financial hardship. Parishioners donated materials and labor, and stonemason James William Shannon, who operated the family quarry five blocks away, donated the limestone. The finished church cost about $12,000 and was dedicated on June 15, 1897. It is recognized for its architecture and as a local example of stone construction. After its religious use ended, it was rededicated in 1996 as the assembly hall of the Eastside Community Center, run by the Batavia Park District. A 1959-60 school building is attached at the rear.","period_of_significance":"1896-97","architect_builder":"Shannon, James William / stonemason","architectural_style":"Gothic (Late Victorian Gothic Revival)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Now used as the assembly hall of the Eastside Community Center for the Batavia Park District; rededicated April 27, 1996.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.756896-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/8931/28893110/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/99000587.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000587/8884989d69-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000587/8884989d69-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"G LeTourneau","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holy_Cross_Church_(Batavia,_IL)_01.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">G LeTourneau</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:Holy_Cross_Church_(Batavia,_IL)_01.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893110","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastside_Community_Center","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5330929"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/kane-county/holy-cross-church-99000587/"}