{"nrhp_refnum":"80003489","name":"West Park Place","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by N. Park Row, Peach, 5th, and State Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Erie","county":"Erie County","state":"PA","lat":42.132264466000066,"lon":-80.08670123148363,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"West Park Place is a mid-19th century commercial business complex in Erie, Pennsylvania, bounded by Perry Square to the south and by Peach Street and State Street. Its buildings were constructed between 1857 and 1865 as the city's commercial core.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the district reflects Erie's growth from lake port to manufacturing center and is Erie's sole remaining concentrated Victorian business district. Its buildings are largely original, and much of the design work is attributed to John Hill. The complex also housed the Farrar Hall and later Park Opera House theater, which hosted many notable performers.","narrative":"Built between 1857 and 1865 in the commercial heart of Erie, Pennsylvania, West Park Place is a cluster of three-story brick business blocks arranged around the central park, along North Park Row, Peach Street and State Street. The buildings followed a fire in the winter of 1857 that destroyed the wooden structures on the site. Most were designed by John Hill, whose facades use wide bracketed cornices, dentils, arched windows with masonry hoods, and pilasters dividing the fronts into window bays. The ground floors held shops and services, upper floors offices, and the third floors entertainment halls. Farrar Hall, opened in 1860 as a theater seating about 1,500, later became the Park Opera House, which hosted touring companies and performers. The district is regarded as Erie's most intact example of a 19th-century downtown business area, and its brick construction reflects the city's effort to reduce the risk of fire.","period_of_significance":"1857-1865","architect_builder":"John Hill (architect of most buildings); Samuel Lytle (builder of Purcell Hardware Store)","architectural_style":"Commercial Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Many of the buildings are described as empty and in poor condition; the Park Opera House was demolished in 1939.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.394849-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/80003489.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003489/ec17389342-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003489/ec17389342-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Park_Place_Erie_PA_Apr_13.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Park_Place_Erie_PA_Apr_13.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995521","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Park_Place","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7986173"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/erie-county/west-park-place-80003489/"}