Old St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Catholic church in Nome, Alaska
Old St. Joseph's is a wood-frame Gothic Revival church built in 1901 at Anvil City Square, designed by J.B. Randell of Seattle. It was moved from West King Place and Steadman Street in 1996 and restored. Its tall steeple was removed after the building fell into disrepair; it now serves as a community hall called Old St. Joe's Hall.
The building was constructed in 1901 and designed by architect J.B. Randell from Seattle, who created it as a solid wooden structure suited to the extreme climate. The church played an important role for the gold seeker community that settled in Nome at the turn of the century.
Since 1996 the former church has stood in Anvil City Square as Old St. Joe's Hall, a community hall used for gatherings and events. Its move from the corner of West King Place and Steadman Street was arranged after the city received the building in 1995, and the restoration that followed returned a landmark of 1901 Nome to public use.
The building now serves as a community center and is accessible during regular events in Nome, so checking local announcements is worthwhile. The location at Anvil City Square is easy to reach on foot and sits in the heart of the city.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 as the only wood-frame Gothic church in all of Alaska. This distinction highlights its importance as an architectural record of a past era and its durability against the region's harsh conditions.
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