{"nrhp_refnum":"99001710","name":"St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2101-2107 W. 21st St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.85371321800005,"lon":-87.67864987899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-01-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick parochial school with a raised basement at 2101-2107 West 21st Street, at the corner of South Hoyne Avenue, in the Lower West Side community area of Chicago. It was built in 1882 for St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is significant under Criterion C as a well-preserved example of a late nineteenth-century Chicago school building, with a symmetrical plan, central corridors and wooden staircases. It keeps its original 1882 exterior form, unlike several older schools in the area that have large additions. It is also one of few surviving nineteenth-century church-built schools in the surrounding community areas.","narrative":"This two-story brick school with a raised basement sits at the southwest corner of West 21st Street and South Hoyne Avenue in Chicago's Lower West Side. Built in 1882 for St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church, it served a German-speaking congregation in a largely working-class neighborhood. The building is cubic and symmetrical, with a limestone foundation, reddish-brown brick walls, segmental-arched limestone window lintels, a pressed-metal cornice and a low hipped roof topped by a cupola. Inside, a central hallway with two wooden staircases is flanked by high-ceilinged classrooms. It was listed for its architecture. The nomination compares it with other early schools in nine nearby community areas and finds that it retains its original exterior form, while several older schools have been substantially enlarged. It also stands out as a surviving nineteenth-century church school, a type that was common in Chicago but rarely survives. At the time of the nomination, the building was undergoing rehabilitation after years of water damage and alterations.","period_of_significance":"1882","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Under rehabilitation; the form says windows were covered with plywood for security during rehabilitation and that the current owner acquired the building in 1999.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.777267-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/8920/28892026/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/99001710.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99001710/c3ea96a791-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99001710/c3ea96a791-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Andrew Jameson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Matthew_Evangelical_Lutheran_School_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:St_Matthew_Evangelical_Lutheran_School_Chicago_IL.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"05001609","name":"Pilsen Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/pilsen-historic-district-05001609/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892026","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Matthew_Evangelical_Lutheran_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7590612"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/st-matthew-evangelical-lutheran-school-99001710/"}