{"nrhp_refnum":"83002269","name":"Girard Group","other_names":["Piers 3 and 5 North"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Delaware Ave. and Arch St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.95086065050006,"lon":-75.1417482019599,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-05-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Engineering","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-part pier complex on the Delaware River waterfront in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consisting of two finger piers (Piers 3 and 5 North) with bulkhead sheds, ancillary sheds and offices along Delaware Avenue. It was completed in 1923.","why_significant":"The piers are significant for their association with an innovative long-range port improvement program established in 1907, which combined public investment and private enterprise to upgrade the port. They are also notable for their architecture, which the nomination describes as sensitive to organic functionalism, and for their role in new cargo handling technology.","narrative":"Completed in 1923 on the Delaware River waterfront in Philadelphia, Piers 3 and 5 North form a complex of two finger piers with bulkhead sheds, a range of one-story sheds and a row of two-story offices along Delaware Avenue. The piers are the third phase and near culmination of a $27,000,000 port improvement program begun in 1907. That program brought together federal, state, local and private money, with the city purchasing obsolete piers and designing new ones in-house using reinforced concrete and steel. The U.S. Corps of Engineers dredged the river to a 35-foot channel. The piers are regarded for their combination of industrial architecture and cargo handling technology, including a limestone and terra cotta facade, corner towers with domed cupolas, and a steel and concrete superstructure roofed in a Warren truss. They are linked to the wharves of Stephen Girard in the early nineteenth century, which gives the complex its name.","period_of_significance":"1900-1923","architect_builder":"Fred Havens, Frederick Snare Corp., Triest Contracting Corp. / John P. Sinkler, Dept. of Engineering, City of Philadelphia","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","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 17:11:32.725024-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/83002269.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002269/64dbe620d4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002269/64dbe620d4-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Girard_Pier_5.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Girard_Pier_5.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997140","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girard_Group","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5564155"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/girard-group-83002269/"}