{"nrhp_refnum":"84000279","name":"Cox Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"36-48 St. Paul St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rochester","county":"Monroe County","state":"NY","lat":43.15769023200005,"lon":-77.60919410899999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-10-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A seven-story brownstone and pressed-brick commercial building at 36-48 St. Paul Street in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, built c.1888 for the retail firm Sibley, Lindsay & Curr, with a rear section built by shoe manufacturer Patrick Cox.","why_significant":"The form argues it is a distinctive example of late nineteenth-century urban department store design in the Renaissance/Romanesque Revival manner. It is the earliest building in the Department Store thematic group and the only one with load-bearing masonry walls. It is also tied to Rochester's retail trade and to Sibley, Lindsay & Curr, the city's most prominent retail firm.","narrative":"Rising seven stories at 36-48 St. Paul Street in Rochester, the Cox Building combines two structures built around 1888. The rear section, along Mortimer Street, was put up by Patrick Cox, a leading local shoe manufacturer, and may have served as offices and wholesale warehousing. The St. Paul Street section was built by Sibley, Lindsay & Curr, Rochester's foremost department store, to meet the needs of its wholesale operation; the firm also called it the Cox Building. Both parts share Romanesque detail: Massachusetts brownstone at the lower levels with floral capitals, pressed red brick above, arcaded upper stories and cast-iron storefronts on Mortimer Street. The southern third was destroyed in the 1904 Sibley Fire, and the later Edwards Building occupies that site. Incomplete arches on the facade mark the loss. It is the earliest of the department store group and the only one with load-bearing masonry walls, and it reflects the importance of retail trade to the city's economy. It remains in commercial use.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect unknown; builder given as Sibley Lindsay & Curr (rear section built by Patrick Cox)","architectural_style":"Renaissance Revival / Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition, in retail/commercial use; the southern third was lost in the 1904 Sibley Fire and storefront glass and sash have been altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.747574-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/84000279.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000279/0beb5c996f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000279/0beb5c996f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cox_Building_Rochester_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</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:Cox_Building_Rochester_NY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313614","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cox_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5179876"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/monroe-county/cox-building-84000279/"}