{"nrhp_refnum":"08000781","name":"Century Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"130 7th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsburgh","county":"Allegheny County","state":"PA","lat":40.44359913400007,"lon":-80.00063391799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-08-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A twelve-story masonry office building on the west side of Seventh Street in downtown Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, constructed in 1906-1907 with a reinforced concrete frame.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is an early Pittsburgh example of a reinforced concrete frame office building and a major work of the firm Rutan & Russell. It is also presented as an excellent local example of the Commercial Style with Beaux Arts Classical ornament, and its street facade is said to retain integrity despite interior and window changes.","narrative":"Built in 1906-1907 on Seventh Street in downtown Pittsburgh, the Century Building is a twelve-story office building with a reinforced concrete frame, an uncommon choice for an office tower in the city at that time. Its three-bay front has a terra cotta base, a seven-story shaft of brick piers, and an arcaded cap, all in the Commercial Style, with rusticated Beaux Arts ornament, oversized keystones, terra cotta urns, and sculpted human heads. The building was constructed on three lots formerly occupied by converted houses, as part of the expansion of the downtown office district into the Penn-Liberty area. It was built by the Henry Shenk Company for a partnership of Frank F. Nicola and Wilbur Shenk, who described it as among the highest reinforced concrete structures in Pittsburgh. Rutan & Russell, a firm with roots in the Richardson office, is credited with the design. Its street facade is regarded as the building's main surviving feature.","period_of_significance":"1907","architect_builder":"Rutan & Russell (architects); Henry Shenk Company (builder)","architectural_style":"Commercial Style with Beaux Arts Classical ornament","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"In good condition; the interior was remodeled around 1980 and the building was purchased in 2007 for planned adaptive reuse as residential apartments.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:10:27.150643-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/08000781.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000781/697e67578b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000781/697e67578b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Century_Building_in_Pittsburgh.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Century_Building_in_Pittsburgh.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/71997628","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_Building_(Pittsburgh,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5063136"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/allegheny-county/century-building-08000781/"}