Washington, DC - The Library of Congress and the National Park Service announced today that the 2021 Leicester B. Holland Prize will be presented to a student at the University of Notre Dame for a drawing of the historic St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kendallville, Indiana. The Holland Prize honors an outstanding historic building, structure or landscape drawing.

The prize was awarded to architecture student Nathan Walz from the University of Notre Dame for a drawing of the historic town church. As the home church of a congregation founded in 1860, St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church is an important piece of the history of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in northern Indiana. It is an excellent example of the Gothic Revival style as utilized in a town parish church. The brass church bells are of historical interest; they were manufactured in 1892 and are still in active use today. The charred foundations of the earlier 1873 structure are also visible in the basement of the current church.

Walz will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a certificate of recognition. Preservation Architect, the online newsletter of the American Institute of Architects’ Historic Resources Committee, will also publish his drawing.

The Leicester B. Holland Prize recognizes the best single-sheet, measured drawing of a historic building, site or structure prepared to the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey, the Historic American Engineering Record or the Historic American Landscapes Survey. It is an annual competition administered by the Heritage Documentation Programs of the National Park Service. The competition’s jury recommends winners to the Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, which supports the prize through the Paul Rudolph Trust. For information on how to participate in the Holland Prize competition, visit the National Park Service contest website.

The Holland Prize is intended to increase awareness, knowledge and appreciation of historic sites, structures and landscapes throughout the United States, and to encourage the submission of drawings by professionals and students. All drawings accepted for the competition will be added to the permanent collection in the Library of Congress. Images of Holland Prize drawings held in the Library’s collection can be viewed here.

The prize honors Leicester B. Holland (1882-1952). Holland was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects; chairman of the institute’s Committee on Historic Buildings; director of the Library of Congress Fine Arts Division; first curator of the Historic American Buildings Survey collection; co-founder of the Historic American Buildings Survey program; and the first chair of the Historic American Buildings Survey advisory board.

The Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering is a program in the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress. It was established by a bequest from the distinguished American architect Paul Rudolph, who was a proponent of the art of architectural drawing. The program sponsors activities and publications to engage the public with the Library’s rich collections.