{"nrhp_refnum":"05000063","name":"Plaza Apartments","other_names":["Vernon House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1719-1725 N 33rd Sts., 3226-3228 Clifford St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.98315463300003,"lon":-75.17635570699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-02-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex of three four-story brick and stone apartment buildings at 1719-1725 N. 33rd Street and 3226-3228 Clifford Street in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of North Philadelphia, built in 1909.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the complex is a significant example of early 20th-century apartment house design in Philadelphia, designed in the Colonial Revival style by the firm Sauer & Hahn. It is described as an uncommon housing type in a neighborhood of rowhouses and as one of the earliest of a group of transitional apartment houses in the city. Its porches, interior trim and main stairs are cited as character-defining features.","narrative":"Three four-story apartment buildings of Roman brick with white terra cotta belt courses stand at the corner of N. 33rd and Clifford Streets in North Philadelphia's Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. Built in 1909 by developer John Stafford to designs by the firm Sauer & Hahn, the buildings are Colonial Revival in style and are arranged in a U-shape around two narrow courtyards. Each has a three-story wood porch with fluted Corinthian columns on its main facade and a pressed metal cornice. Each floor held several flats with lengthwise living rooms, and the interiors retained heavy wood trim and main stairs. The 1920 census lists twenty-one families living in the complex, mostly Eastern European Jewish families of middle-class means. The complex is significant for architecture as an early example of apartment house design in Philadelphia, and as one of the earliest of a group of transitional apartment buildings in the city. It was vacant from the early 1990s onward.","period_of_significance":"1909","architect_builder":"Sauer & Hahn (architects); John Stafford (builder/developer)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Vacant since the early 1990s and subject to repeated vandalism; the nomination notes it was later renamed Vernon House and targeted for rehabilitation.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:10:27.073455-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/05000063.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000063/57b62726cb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000063/57b62726cb-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plaza_Apts_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plaza_Apts_Philly.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"72001151","name":"Fairmount Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/fairmount-park-72001151/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996972","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_Apartments_(Philadelphia,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15267017"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/plaza-apartments-05000063/"}