National Register of Historic Places

St. Seraphim Chapel

Lower Kalskag, Bethel County, Alaska
Listed
June 5, 1980
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
80004586

About this property

The St. Seraphim Chapel, also known as the Old Church, is a historic Russian Orthodox church in Lower Kalskag, Alaska, United States, in Bethel Census Area, that may include a portion built in 1843, or it may have all been built later. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The community has a 1975-built new church used for Russian Orthodox services; this is an old church that is either a later enlargement of an original church built probably in 1843 or it is wholly a later 1800s replacement. The old church reflects the influence of traditional three-part Russian Orthodox ecclesiastical architecture in America expressed in the style of a log cabin. Balanced in the center, it is divided into three parts: vestibule, nave, and altar chamber. Each section is built by squared logs with corner dovetailing and straight butt joints at points where the logs are shorter. A 1979 survey suggested that no other extant log church in Alaska (and perhaps nowhere else in all of North America) of its age possessed comparable construction.

Location

Lower Kalskag, Bethel County, Alaska
61.51187, -160.36077

Categories

EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENTARCHITECTURESOCIAL HISTORY
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Questions about this property

When was St. Seraphim Chapel listed on the National Register?

St. Seraphim Chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 5, 1980.

What type of historic resource is St. Seraphim Chapel?

St. Seraphim Chapel is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for St. Seraphim Chapel?

The period of significance for St. Seraphim Chapel is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near St. Seraphim Chapel?

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