{"nrhp_refnum":"07000331","name":"Bar Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"199 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"White Plains","county":"Westchester County","state":"NY","lat":41.03252638600003,"lon":-73.76765021899996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-05-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 10-story office building with a two-story recessed penthouse at 199 Main Street in downtown White Plains, Westchester County, New York, built in 1926 to designs by architect Benjamin Levitan for the Court Realty Company.","why_significant":"The building is presented as a distinctive and intact early twentieth-century high-rise commercial building in Westchester County (Criterion C). It also meets Criterion A for community planning and development as one of the most important buildings erected in White Plains in that period. It was the tallest building in the county when completed and served the legal and business community around the county courthouse.","narrative":"Rising 125 feet above Main Street in downtown White Plains, the Bar Building is a steel-frame office tower completed in 1926. New York architect Benjamin Levitan gave it brick walls, terra cotta trim, and Neo-Gothic and Art Deco ornamentation on the south and west sides, with a crenellated parapet that makes its two-story penthouse read as extra floors. The penthouse originally held the City Club of White Plains, with a terrace above the tenth story. The building replaced the Newal Theater and was the tallest in Westchester County when it opened. It was built mainly for lawyers, who were clustering near the county courthouse across the street, and early tenants also included architects, insurance and real estate brokers, and the Chamber of Commerce. Much of the surrounding legal and financial district was lost to urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s, so the Bar Building is one of the few large historic commercial buildings left in the city. It was listed for its architecture and its role in local development.","period_of_significance":"1926-54","architect_builder":"Levitan, Benjamin I.; builder Court Realty Company of New York City","architectural_style":"Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements: Commercial Style (described as Art Deco with Neo-Gothic ornament)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Exterior described as in excellent condition (2006); the lobby has been renovated, and the building is still used as offices.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.194975-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/07000331.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000331/5ee4a558a7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000331/5ee4a558a7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bar_Building_2012-09-23_jeh.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">jim.henderson</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bar_Building_2012-09-23_jeh.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322949","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4857916"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/westchester-county/bar-building-07000331/"}