{"nrhp_refnum":"79002255","name":"Hager Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"25 W. King St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lancaster","county":"Lancaster County","state":"PA","lat":40.03806922200005,"lon":-76.30682260399993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-10-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-story and four-story department store building in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at West King, North Market and West Grant Streets, built in sections between about 1860 and 1925. The main front section was constructed in 1910-11 for the Hager department store.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is an important, relatively intact work by architect C. Emlen Urban and an excellent example of the French Renaissance Revival style applied to a commercial building. It also cites the early use of structural steel in Lancaster and the Hager business's long family ownership on the same site, which began in 1821.","narrative":"Built in 1910-11 to a design by Cassius Emlen Urban, the leading Lancaster architect of the period, the Hager Building occupies a block west of the town square in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Its steel frame is clad in terra cotta, with pressed metal coping and large wood-sash windows on the front section, which was regarded as the building's main architectural achievement. Contemporary accounts described it as built along French Renaissance lines with modern features, including three electric elevators and an automatic sprinkler system. Its steel construction was an early use of the material in the city and marked a step toward modern commercial architecture there. The Hager family's department store operated on the site from 1821, and the business was believed to be the oldest department store in continuous family ownership on one site in the United States when it closed in January 1977. Two brick warehouse-type sections to the rear, dating from the nineteenth century and 1925, add to the complex. The exterior remains largely as originally designed, apart from the removal of one side entrance.","period_of_significance":"1910-1911","architect_builder":"Cassius Emlen Urban (architect); A.B. Rote Company (steel structural work)","architectural_style":"French Renaissance Revival; also described as Chicago Style or a commercial version of the Beaux-Arts Style","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Business closed in January 1977.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.299853-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002255.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002255/18e3dea744-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002255/18e3dea744-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hager_Lancaster_PA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hager_Lancaster_PA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"01000956","name":"Lancaster City Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/lancaster-city-historic-district-01000956/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996071","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hager_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5638614"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lancaster-county/hager-building-79002255/"}