{"nrhp_refnum":"79002322","name":"Lits Department Store","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Market between 7th and 8th Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.95192489050007,"lon":-75.15249806994332,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-05-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A block-long department store building on Market Street between Seventh and Eighth Streets in Philadelphia, developed by accretion from the mid-19th to early 20th century for the Lit Brothers dry goods business. Its principal Market Street facade contains six pre-Centennial store units with iron and stone fronts.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building documents the transition of Philadelphia retailing from small shops to the department store around the turn of the century. It also contains one of the most complete groups of mid-19th-century store fronts surviving in the city, designed in part by Collins and Autenreith, and it gives Market Street a reminder of an earlier scale.","narrative":"Built along Market Street in Philadelphia over several decades, the Lit Brothers store grew from a row of mid-19th-century shops into a block-long department store. The principal Market Street facade keeps six store units built before the Centennial, which the nomination describes as the largest surviving cluster of iron and stone fronted commercial fronts in the city. Cast iron, terra cotta and stone details appear throughout. The 719-721 Market Street front, built in 1870 for dry goods dealer Joel J. Bailey, carries a segmental pediment dated 1873. The Seventh and Eighth Street sections were added in 1895 and 1917-1918, the later one in reinforced concrete clad with yellow brick and limestone. The building is significant as a record of Philadelphia's shift from small shops to the department store at the turn of the century, and for the work of architects Edward Collins and Charles Autenreith.","period_of_significance":"1859-1907","architect_builder":"Collins & Autenreith (architects of the end pavilions and various alterations); Wm. D. Price (architect, 719-721 Market Street, 1870-1873); Simon & Bassett (architects, 1917-1918 additions)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.927814-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002322.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002322/33c0d7f8d2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002322/33c0d7f8d2-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jack Boucher","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LitBrothers.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jack Boucher</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LitBrothers.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997130","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lit_Brothers","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6647346"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/lits-department-store-79002322/"}