{"nrhp_refnum":"81000544","name":"Municipal Building and Central Fire Station, 340","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N. Washington Ave. and 518 Mulberry St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Scranton","county":"Lackawanna County","state":"PA","lat":41.40998150400003,"lon":-75.66091016099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-09-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A civic complex in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, consisting of the three-story limestone Municipal Building erected in 1888 at the southeast corner of Mulberry Street and North Washington Avenue, and the three-story Central Fire Headquarters attached to it by an enclosed bridge.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the Municipal Building is an exemplary late Victorian Gothic structure in America, built of native stone that gives it a color unique in Scranton, and that its bell tower and silhouette make it a prominent downtown landmark. It is described as the focal point of a group of early twentieth-century structures that it complements in scale, color and texture. The Central Fire Headquarters is presented as the main fire station of the city and as a complement to the Municipal Building's architectural composition.","narrative":"Built of limestone ashlar with Ohio sandstone trim on a corner of Mulberry Street and North Washington Avenue in Scranton, the Municipal Building was completed in 1888 and seated the city's government from the 1890s onward. Its three stories are topped by a corner bell tower about 160 feet high, with turreted corner towers, a slate mansard and pointed Gothic windows, and the council chambers on the second floor are lit by stained glass. Architect Edwin L. Walter, a former carpenter, designed it, and his other works include the Lackawanna County Jail. Beside it, the Central Fire Headquarters, designed by Frederick Lord Brown and completed in 1905, is a Palazzo-type building joined to the Municipal Building by an enclosed bridge. The nomination treats the pair as a landmark whose stone color and massing unify the surrounding downtown streetscape.","period_of_significance":"1888-1893","architect_builder":"Edwin L. Walter (architect); Conrad Schroeder (builder) for Municipal Building; Frederick Lord Brown (architect); Mathias Stipp (builder) for Central Fire Station","architectural_style":"Victorian Gothic","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Exterior alterations limited to cleaning, trim painting and replacement windows and doors; the rose window has been replaced by solid color sectors.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.851546-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/81000544.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000544/b679549913-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000544/b679549913-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scranton_-_Scranton_City_Hall_(48472742281).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scranton_-_Scranton_City_Hall_(48472742281).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998105","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scranton_City_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7438743"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lackawanna-county/municipal-building-and-central-fire-station-340-81000544/"}