{"nrhp_refnum":"82001544","name":"Breslyn Apartments","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4624-4642 Walnut St., 201-213 S. 47th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.95542867700004,"lon":-75.21503714799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-11-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story rough-faced granite and brick apartment complex of five connected buildings along the south side of Walnut Street between Farragut and Forty-seventh Streets in West Philadelphia. The buildings were completed in 1913 by Frederick C. Michaelsen.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the complex as a well-preserved example of the three-story walk-up apartment, a short-lived building form in Philadelphia. Its use of rough-faced stone and ornamental Beaux-Arts detailing, drawn from manufactured elements, is described as a striking departure from the city's usual smooth brick dwellings. It is also tied to the speculative middle-class housing boom that followed the Market Street Elevated line and to the work of a local builder-developer.","narrative":"Five three-story apartment buildings of coursed rough-faced granite and brick line the south side of Walnut Street in West Philadelphia, between Farragut and Forty-seventh Streets. Frederick C. Michaelsen, a local builder-developer, completed them in 1913 as speculative housing for middle-class tenants. Their rough-faced stone street fronts, terra-cotta and galvanized-iron trim, and porticoed Roman Ionic and Corinthian details set them apart from the smooth brick rowhouses that dominate the city. Each building has a pedimented or porch-balcony front, and the corner building at Forty-seventh Street adds a castellated turret drawn from medieval fortress design. The complex is significant as a well-preserved example of the three-story walk-up apartment, a building type that was popular for only a short time in Philadelphia. It also reflects Michaelsen's background as the son of a bricklayer and his firm's tradition of solid construction.","period_of_significance":"1913","architect_builder":"Frederick C. Michaelsen (architect-builder)","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts","criteria":["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 17:11:34.407319-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/82001544.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001544/30dbc86039-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001544/30dbc86039-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Breslyn_apts_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Breslyn_apts_Philly.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"97001669","name":"West Philadelphia Streetcar Suburb Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/west-philadelphia-streetcar-suburb-historic-district-97001669/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996944","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breslyn_Apartments","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4961867"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/breslyn-apartments-82001544/"}