Named for French Franciscan Saint Elzéar de Sabran (patron saint of armies), the chapel is the center of the historic town of San Elizario (an Anglo-American corruption of San Elceario). A Spanish garrison (presidio), intended to protect the lower Rio Grande valley’s missions from Apache attacks, was located here in 1789, and the town of San Elizario grew up around it. The Spanish military presence ended with Mexican independence in 1821. From 1850 until 1873 San Elizario was the first county seat of El Paso County.
This church, which replaced the abandoned presidio chapel of 1853, is rectangular with five-foot-thick adobe walls covered in white stucco. Prominent stepped buttresses with sloped tops are the most distinguishing exterior feature, and a flaring, geometric cornice runs around the structure. An arched espadaña framed by scrolled lateral parapets contains four bells that are later additions. The south side of the church is the most dramatic, with three stout, curved apses, smooth and devoid of trim except for a minimal cornice and two narrow, arched windows. The central apse houses the church’s altar, while those to either side are chapels. In contrast to the sculptural exterior, the interior of the church is spacious, open, and minimally decorated. Two rows of columns divide the church into a central nave and wide side aisles. A painted pressed-metal ceiling was added in 1944, when the columns were painted and given their gilt extrusions and the false arches between them were added. Twentieth-century stained glass windows illuminate the space.
The chapel faces San Bernal Plaza, where trees and landscaping surrounding a gazebo are a blend of Mexican and American traditions. Historic adobes line one side of the plaza and Main Street to the north. Regardless of original or later uses, these structures have narrow one-room-wide plans, high parapets, and flat roofs. Facing the plaza is Los Portales Museum (Gregorio Nacianceno García House, 1855), with its unusual inset ten-bay-long portal. In addition to metal canales, the house exhibits many New Mexican territorial vernacular details, including wooden window and door frames with raked lintels and turned porch posts with ornamented zapatas (impost blocks). Nearby at 12501 Socorro Road, the L. G. Alarcón Elementary School (San Elizario School, 1936, Trost and Trost) is Gustavus A. Trost’s Mission-style salute to the Mexican vernacular architecture of San Elizario.