{"nrhp_refnum":"99000719","name":"Monastery of Our Lady of Charity","other_names":["House of the Good Shepherd"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1900 Montana","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Antonio","county":"Bexar County","state":"TX","lat":29.417992193500055,"lon":-98.44925910987706,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-06-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex on a 6.84-acre site at 1900 Montana in San Antonio, Texas, centered on a 3-story brick monastery built in 1899 for the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity (House of the Good Shepherd). It also includes a kitchen building (1903, built as a laundry), a carriage house (c. 1900), walls, grottos, a pool and a pedestal.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the complex is significant under Criterion A for social history, as the apparently first organized effort in San Antonio to care for and educate unwed mothers. It is also significant under Criterion C for architecture, as an eclectic late 19th-century design mixing Italianate and Gothic details, designed by James Murphy and built by John C. Dielmann.","narrative":"On the east side of San Antonio, a walled 6.84-acre complex at 1900 Montana grew up around a three-story brick monastery completed in 1899 for the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, who ran the House of the Good Shepherd. Architect James Murphy adapted plans from the order's Toronto facility, and John C. Dielmann built it with Italianate and Gothic details in polychrome brick, a pointed-arch chapel and an octagonal cupola. A kitchen building, originally a laundry, followed in 1903, along with a carriage house, grottos, a pool and a commemorative pedestal. The home was apparently the city's first organized effort to care for and educate unwed mothers, working alongside other Catholic institutions. Its period of significance runs from 1899 to 1949. The Sisters left in 1977, and the buildings have since suffered neglect, a 1995 gallery collapse, vandalism and the 1998 loss of the dormitory. They still retain substantial historic character and integrity.","period_of_significance":"1899-1949","architect_builder":"Murphey, James; Dielmann, Leo J.; Dielmann, John C.","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Italianate, Gothic","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The monastery, kitchen and carriage house are vacant and deteriorated from past neglect, but in fair condition with substantial integrity. The monastery was vacated in 1977.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.630388-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/12/9713/40971312/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/99000719.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000719/29a7280304-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000719/29a7280304-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Glen Campbell","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monastery_of_Our_Lady_Of_Charity,_San_Antonio,_TX.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Glen Campbell</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:Monastery_of_Our_Lady_Of_Charity,_San_Antonio,_TX.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971312","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery_of_Our_Lady_of_Charity","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6898323"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bexar-county/monastery-of-our-lady-of-charity-99000719/"}