{"nrhp_refnum":"79002347","name":"Chamberlin Iron Front Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"434 Market St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lewisburg","county":"Union County","state":"PA","lat":40.96341407400007,"lon":-76.88721237699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-05-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick Italianate commercial building with a cast iron front at the intersection of Fifth and Market Streets in Lewisburg, Union County, Pennsylvania. It has a two-story rear addition and was built in 1868.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its cast iron front, which it describes as one of the few iron front buildings in the region, and for its association with the builder Lewis Palmer and the Chamberlin family. It also cites its long commercial and fraternal use and its role as an early lending library for Black residents.","narrative":"Built in 1868 by Lewis Palmer, a builder and architect who also designed the Union County Courthouse and several Bucknell buildings, this three-story brick commercial block stands at Fifth and Market Streets in Lewisburg. Its defining feature is a cast iron front of arched windows, pilasters and ornate brackets, a form the nomination describes as rare in the region. The building housed groceries, general stores, a shoe store, a feed store, a post office and an electrical business over the decades. Its upper floors held the Odd Fellows lodge, which bought the property in 1917, along with several bands, fraternal groups and the Masonic Lodge. One upper room served as a lending library for Black residents, which the nomination calls unusual for the town at that time. The building is listed for its architecture, its link to Palmer and the Chamberlin family, and its role in downtown commerce.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Lewis Palmer (builder/architect)","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"The document describes the 1973 fire that destroyed and later repaired the roof, and the east wall being shored up; it does not state current occupancy in use or vacancy beyond the 1979 owners' plans to restore it.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.99351-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002347.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002347/29fe07de3c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002347/29fe07de3c-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chamberlain_Bldg_Lewisburg_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:Chamberlain_Bldg_Lewisburg_PA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"04000759","name":"Lewisburg Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/lewisburg-historic-district-04000759/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996246","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamberlin_Iron_Front_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5069614"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/union-county/chamberlin-iron-front-building-79002347/"}