{"nrhp_refnum":"79002178","name":"Nathan's Department Store","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"426-432 Main St","address_restricted":false,"city":"Johnstown","county":"Cambria County","state":"PA","lat":40.32527558100003,"lon":-78.91873666899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-08-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story commercial building with a finished basement at 426-532 Main Street in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, across from Central Park in the city's commercial center. It was constructed in 1917 as the Nathan's Department Store.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building housed one of Johnstown's important department stores in the decade after World War I and survived several economic and disaster events. Its architecture is significant as one of the few remaining large-scale examples of glazed architectural terra-cotta in the Johnstown area, with a simplified classical motif derived from Chicago commercial design of the 1890s.","narrative":"Built in 1917 on Main Street across from Johnstown's Central Park, the four-story building has a finished basement, a steel-framed interior of 21 structural bays, maple floors and a flat roof. Its Main Street facade is clad in glazed architectural terra-cotta in a simplified classical design. The store catered first to working-class customers including miners and steelworkers, then attempted in the late 1920s to move upmarket, a effort that failed during the depression. The site was later leased to the S.S. Kresge variety chain, and the building operated as a retail store until the flood of July 20, 1977, after which it has been vacant. The building is regarded as one of the few remaining large examples of glazed terra-cotta work in the Johnstown area. Its upper floors were used as furniture warehouse space in recent years, and the open structural bays remain intact.","period_of_significance":"1917","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Simplified classical motif; Chicago-derived commercial style with glazed architectural terra-cotta","criteria":[],"status_note":"Vacant since the July 1977 flood, with the ground floor damaged in that flood.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.641285-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002178.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002178/4659d5c95d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002178/4659d5c95d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Generic1139","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nathan%27s_Department_Store.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Generic1139</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:Nathan%27s_Department_Store.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"92000941","name":"Downtown Johnstown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/downtown-johnstown-historic-district-92000941/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995982","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan%27s_Department_Store","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6968832"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/cambria-county/nathans-department-store-79002178/"}