{"nrhp_refnum":"82003813","name":"Reading Company Grain Elevator","other_names":["Granary"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"411 N. 20th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.961195813000074,"lon":-75.17140498199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-03-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A reinforced-concrete former grain elevator on the east side of North Twentieth Street and north of Shamokin Street in Philadelphia, built in 1925 for the Reading Company and now used as a combined residence and office.","why_significant":"The nomination describes it as a fine and increasingly rare example of a grain elevator near Philadelphia's central business district, and as a relic of the city's role as a commercial and industrial center. Its concrete construction used a continuous-pouring technique, and its design balances a massive form with fenestration and a set-back pent house. The adaptive reuse that preserved its exterior appearance is also cited as significant.","narrative":"Built in 1925 for the Reading Company, this reinforced-concrete grain elevator rises about 110 feet above North Twentieth Street, its flat walls pierced by industrial steel-frame windows and capped by a one- and two-story pent house. Its railroad connection once linked it to the port of Philadelphia on the Delaware River, and a train shed still runs along its north side. The building replaced an earlier elevator built about 1880 on the same foundations. It was built by the company's staff using a continuous-pouring method of concrete construction, which was innovative for the period. The nomination treats it as a rare survivor among the city's grain elevators and as evidence of Philadelphia's foodstuffs trade after 1860. In 1977 it was converted to architectural offices and living quarters while keeping its exterior largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1900-1925","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Converted to joint residential and office use following adaptive reuse begun in 1977-1978.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:13:14.45344-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/82003813.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003813/625862a169-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003813/625862a169-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philly_Grain_Elevator.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philly_Grain_Elevator.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996928","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Company_Grain_Elevator","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7300497"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/reading-company-grain-elevator-82003813/"}