{"nrhp_refnum":"01000053","name":"Trico Plant No. 1","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"817 Washinton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buffalo","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":42.89494988000007,"lon":-78.86922274199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-02-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Trico Plant #1 is a complex of industrial buildings at 817 Washington Street in downtown Buffalo, New York, erected or converted for company use between about 1920 and 1950. It includes a converted 1890s brewery storehouse and reinforced concrete daylight factory buildings.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the plant is an outstanding local example of the Daylight Factory type of reinforced concrete construction. It is also tied to Trico's role in the automotive industry as maker of the first windshield wiper blades, and to John R. Oishei, the company founder and later philanthropist. It was also one of Buffalo's major employers during the Depression and after.","narrative":"Trico Plant #1 occupies a block one street east of Main Street in downtown Buffalo. It grew from a former Weyand Brewery cold storage building, built around 1890 and bought in 1920 by John R. Oishei for his windshield wiper business. Between 1924 and 1937 the company added reinforced concrete buildings with white concrete piers, red brick spandrels and metal sash windows, a design known as the Daylight Factory. Plumer and Mann designed the 1924 building, and later large buildings followed the same system. Trico pediments mark rooflines, and a classical stone entrance serves the former administrative building. The nomination ties the plant to the first automobile windshield wiper blades and to Oishei, whose wealth later funded a major regional foundation. Employment rose from 35 workers to nearly 4,600 by 1950. Trico left the site in 1998, and the complex is described as partly vacant. A 1954 building with later additions is noncontributing.","period_of_significance":"1920-1950","architect_builder":"Plumer and Mann Engineers and Architects of Buffalo, NY; Burton and Ellicott of Buffalo, NY","architectural_style":"OTHER/Daylight Factory","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Listed as partly vacant; Trico left the historic building in 1998. Building 9 has been converted from factory to office use.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.518309-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/01000053.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000053/e29c27f660-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000053/e29c27f660-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trico_Plant_No._1_Dec_09.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trico_Plant_No._1_Dec_09.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317723","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trico_Plant_No._1","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7841234"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/trico-plant-no-1-01000053/"}