{"nrhp_refnum":"83004221","name":"Lancaster Trust Company","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"37-41 N. Market St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lancaster","county":"Lancaster County","state":"PA","lat":40.03824143200006,"lon":-76.30752916299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-11-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Economics","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Main Banking Room, Board Room, vaults and associated basement and passageways of the former Lancaster Trust Company, a bank building on North Queen Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, constructed in 1911-1912. The adjacent original front section, built 1889-1890, no longer has visible exterior or interior architecture.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the Main Banking Room is a regional masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts interior, designed as a scaled-down version of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in New York and based on ancient Roman sources. It is one of the most elaborate extant interiors by architect C. Emlen Urban and one of only two surviving Lancaster City banks from the first third of the twentieth century. The bank's rise and 1932 failure are presented as part of the county's economic history.","narrative":"Built in 1911-1912 on North Queen Street in Lancaster, the Main Banking Room of the former Lancaster Trust Company is a large interior with a monumental barrel vault and octagonal coffered ceiling originally painted turquoise blue and gilt. Designed in 1910 by Lancaster architect C. Emlen Urban and built by contractor Herman Wohlsen, the room measures about 80 feet east to west and 40 feet north to south. Its walls carry concrete, composition and plaster panels, pilasters and Corinthian columns, and the Board Room has a plasterwork ceiling with strapwork, palmettes and the bank's monograms. The nomination regards the room as one of the most elaborate extant interiors by Urban and a regional example of Beaux-Arts design. The bank was Lancaster County's first trust company, opened in 1890, and became the county's richest bank by 1923 before failing in 1932. Much of the original fittings were sold after that failure, though the two chandeliers remained.","period_of_significance":"1910-1912","architect_builder":"C. Emlen Urban (architect); Herman Wohlsen (builder)","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The interior has been vacant for fifty-one years; some ceiling areas were damaged by water and two bays of the east wall were bricked shut.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.811231-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/83004221.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004221/791ea22678-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004221/791ea22678-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_QnT_Museum.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:Lancaster_QnT_Museum.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"01000956","name":"Lancaster City Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/lancaster-city-historic-district-01000956/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996087","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster_Trust_Company","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6483275"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lancaster-county/lancaster-trust-company-83004221/"}