{"nrhp_refnum":"82003760","name":"City Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8th & Washington Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.338003118000074,"lon":-75.92135814499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story former boys' high school in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, on the north side of Washington Street between North Eighth and Cedar Streets, on the northeastern edge of the Central Business District. It was constructed in 1904 and converted to use as the City Hall in 1928.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is the City's finest and purest example of the Beaux-Arts style and one of the few such buildings in Reading, with the only one serving an institutional function. It is also cited for its craftsmanship in stone and molded terra-cotta and for its Council Chamber stained glass windows made by the J. M. Kase Glass Company. Its connection to Socialist city officials Mayor J. Henry Stump and Councilman James M. Maurer is also presented as important.","narrative":"Built in 1904 as a boys' high school, this three-story Beaux-Arts building on Washington Street in Reading has granite lower stories, light gray brick upper stories, and terra-cotta ornament. Davis & Davis of Philadelphia designed it, and the local firm Seidel & Fink built it. The City bought the school in 1928 for $510,000 and converted it into City Hall within eleven months, with interior work led by architect Alexander F. Smith. The building is significant as the most complete Beaux-Arts design in Reading and the only example serving a public institutional role. Its stone and terra-cotta craftsmanship and its Council Chamber stained glass windows, a series of fourteen panels depicting local history, are also central to its listing. The building anchors the neighborhood along Washington and North Eighth Streets.","period_of_significance":"1904-1928","architect_builder":"Davis & Davis (architects); Seidel & Fink (builders)","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Converted to City Hall use in 1928; exterior described as extremely well preserved.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.547765-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/82003760.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003760/057ad1a0ab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003760/057ad1a0ab-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reading_PA_City_Hall.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:Reading_PA_City_Hall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997936","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Hall_(Reading,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5123194"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/city-hall-82003760/"}