{"nrhp_refnum":"82001543","name":"Belgravia Hotel","other_names":["Peale House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1811 Chestnut St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.951988208000046,"lon":-75.17100734399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-11-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An eight-story terra cotta and brick apartment hotel on the north side of Chestnut Street between 18th and 19th Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was designed by the architect-engineering firm of Milligan and Webber and built in 1902, and it now houses exhibition space and studios for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.","why_significant":"The building is regarded as an early example of steel-skeleton high-rise construction that keeps traditional design values, and as the earliest largely intact work of Frederick Webber and a prototype of the apartment hotel type in Philadelphia. Its Beaux Arts Classicism facade, marble-clad interior, and rare iron and glass sidewalk canopy are cited as important survivals. Its use by prominent families as a pied-a-terre is also presented as part of its social history.","narrative":"Built in 1902 on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, the Belgravia is an eight-story brick, terra cotta and steel building designed by Milligan and Webber as an apartment hotel. Its Chestnut Street facade is an elaborate essay in Beaux Arts Classicism, with pedimented architraves, keystone lintels, oculi and lion heads, and a central entrance beneath a rare iron and glass sidewalk canopy. The interior is built on a steel and iron column system, with a coffered ceiling and scagliola Ionic columns in the former dining room. Long a pied-a-terre for families listed in the Blue Book between 1904 and 1913, the building became a commercial hotel in 1936. Since 1960 it has served the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and its original interior spaces largely survive.","period_of_significance":"1902","architect_builder":"Samuel Milligan and Frederick Webber (architects); Milligan and Webber (architect-engineering firm)","architectural_style":"Beaux Arts Classicism","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Now houses exhibition space and studios for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; cornice removed; the original interior spaces survive with cosmetic changes by the tenant.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.433244-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/82001543.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001543/957717788a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001543/957717788a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Belgravia_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Belgravia_Philly.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996942","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgravia_Hotel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13629204"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/belgravia-hotel-82001543/"}