{"nrhp_refnum":"00000451","name":"Phipps-McElveen Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"525-529 Penn Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsburgh","county":"Allegheny County","state":"PA","lat":40.44492308100007,"lon":-80.00267787599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-05-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An eight-story commercial building of steel frame and hollow tile construction at the southwest corner of Penn Avenue and Cecil Alley in downtown Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It was built c. 1896.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its association with Pittsburgh commercial life, including the McElveen Furniture Company, Oppenheim, Collins & Co., and the Joseph Horne Company, and for its representation of Renaissance Revival commercial architecture in Pittsburgh in the late nineteenth century. It was built as a speculative venture of industrialist Henry Phipps.","narrative":"Built around 1896 as an eight-story commercial block of steel frame and hollow tile, the building stands on a corner lot at Penn Avenue and Cecil Alley in downtown Pittsburgh. Its facade is faced in buff Roman brick with terra cotta trim, including a beltcourse of fleurs-de-lis, rope-molded surrounds on the eighth-floor windows, and a cornice with dentil molding and modillions. It follows the base-shaft-capital massing common to early Pittsburgh skyscrapers. Industrialist Henry Phipps built it as a speculative venture. Tenants included the McElveen Furniture Company, which was among the city's largest furniture businesses, and the clothier Oppenheim, Collins & Co. The Joseph Horne department store, located across Cecil Alley, used the upper floors for warehousing and clothing alteration for nearly a century. The building is regarded as a locally significant example of Renaissance Revival commercial design from the 1890s. It survived the 1897 fire that destroyed the Horne's store across the street, and it retains its original upper facade.","period_of_significance":"c. 1896-1949","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"LATE VICTORIAN/Renaissance Revival; LATE 19TH & 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN MOVEMENTS/Commercial Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The first-story storefront was altered; the upper facade and cornice are original. The former Horne's walkways have been removed and their openings in-filled.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.347971-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/00000451.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000451/1d31b5c4d3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000451/1d31b5c4d3-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phipps-McElveen_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phipps-McElveen_Building.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"13000250","name":"Penn-Liberty Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/penn-liberty-historic-district-boundary-increase-13000250/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997710","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phipps%E2%80%93McElveen_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7186404"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/allegheny-county/phipps-mcelveen-building-00000451/"}