{"nrhp_refnum":"83002223","name":"Farmers and Mechanics Trust Company Building","other_names":["The F &amp","M Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Market and High Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"West Chester","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":39.95954115200004,"lon":-75.60483408099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-01-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Farmers & Mechanics Building is a six-story (eight usable floors including basement and penthouse) Neo-Classic commercial office and banking building at Market and High Streets in West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was designed by William C. Prichett, F.A.I.A., for the Farmers & Mechanics Trust Company and completed in 1908.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be the single skyscraper of its period in West Chester and an example of the Classic Three Part Facade applied to a tall commercial building in a low-rise town. Its fireproof, elevator-served offices, roof garden and banking facility are presented as evidence of the town's commercial and financial importance, and it is described as unique in Chester County.","narrative":"Built on Market Street in West Chester, the Farmers & Mechanics Building was designed by architect William C. Prichett and completed in 1908 for the Farmers & Mechanics Trust Company. Construction began on March 5, 1907. It rises six stories, with a basement, banking floor, mezzanine, office floors and a roof garden, and its facade is divided into base, column and capital in the Neo-Classic manner. Polished granite, Indiana limestone, Pittsburgh brick and gray terra cotta were used on the exterior. Inside, the banking room has a nineteen-foot ceiling, white Tennessee marble wainscoting and a mahogany mezzanine, and the upper floors hold about seventy-five offices off a central corridor. The building was the first fireproof, elevator-equipped structure of its kind in southeastern Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia, and its roof garden was the first in Chester County. Its scale made it a visible sign of West Chester's commercial growth.","period_of_significance":"1907-1908","architect_builder":"William C. Prichett, F.A.I.A. (architect)","architectural_style":"Neo-Classic; Classic Three Part Facade","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 17:11:33.856534-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/83002223.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002223/b5bce7e722-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002223/b5bce7e722-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farmers_and_Mechanics_Building.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farmers_and_Mechanics_Building.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"05000096","name":"West Chester Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/west-chester-historic-district-boundary-increase-05000096/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998644","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers_and_Mechanics_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5435816"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/farmers-and-mechanics-trust-company-building-83002223/"}