{"nrhp_refnum":"83002281","name":"WCAU Studios","other_names":["Art Institute"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1618-22 Chestnut St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.95549790000007,"lon":-75.17382596299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-01-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture","Communications"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The WCAU Studios building at 1618-22 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, erected as a broadcasting studio for WCAU, affiliated with the Columbia Broadcasting System, in 1931. It is a mixed-use building with a ground-floor retail store, rental offices on the second through fifth floors, and the radio station on the upper stories.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is one of the first, if not the first, in the United States built specifically as a radio broadcasting studio and the first in the Philadelphia area. Its facade is presented as an expression of the radio age, combining Art Deco and European modernist vocabulary. It is also linked to architect Harry Sternfeld, whose work is described as important and little known.","narrative":"Built in 1931 as a broadcasting studio for WCAU, an affiliate of the Columbia Broadcasting System, this mixed-use building on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia combined a ground-floor store, rental offices on the second through fifth floors, and the radio station on the upper stories. Its facade expresses the new medium through a glazed central tower meant to light up as a visual symbol of the radio age, along with horizontal window bands and a carved relief of voice and music motifs above the entrance. Harry Sternfeld, Gabriel Roth and Robert Heller were credited with the design, with Heller specializing in radio studios. The building is regarded as one of the earliest structures in the United States built specifically for radio broadcasting and the first of its kind in the Philadelphia area. Its significance also rests on its Art Deco design, which is linked to Sternfeld's later career. A fire in the mid-1950s led to the facade being resurfaced in white and the tower being shortened, and most interiors were replaced, though the elevator lobby survives largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1931","architect_builder":"Gabriel Roth, Harry Sternfeld, Robert Heller","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Altered: the facade was resurfaced in white after a mid-1950s fire, the glass tower was shortened, and most interiors were replaced apart from the lobby.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.752417-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/83002281.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002281/02d443cdb6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83002281/02d443cdb6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"See below","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WTP_D03_AMP_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">See below</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WTP_D03_AMP_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997076","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q54987138"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/wcau-studios-83002281/"}