{"nrhp_refnum":"84000287","name":"Edwards Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"26-34 St. Paul St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rochester","county":"Monroe County","state":"NY","lat":43.15742597500008,"lon":-77.60893686699995,"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, L-shaped terra-cotta department store building at 26-34 St. Paul Street in downtown Rochester, Monroe County, New York, built in 1908 to designs by Crandall & Strobel for the Edwards Department Store.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an intact early twentieth century Renaissance-style department store of skeletal construction. It is one of two terra-cotta clad buildings in the multiple resource area. It is also tied to the growth of Rochester's retail and department store trade through the Edwards firm.","narrative":"Edwards Building is a seven-story department store at 26-34 St. Paul Street in downtown Rochester, completed in 1908 from designs by Crandall & Strobel. Its steel skeletal frame is clad in white terra cotta, with Neoclassical details in a Renaissance design. The lower zone has oval patterns, tripartite bays and mullions decorated with rosettes, while the upper spandrels carry a woven diamond pattern. The L-shaped building wraps around the Cox Building and fills its entire lot. The Edwards firm, founded in 1905, ran a successful store here and in the linked Cornwall Building until it went into receivership in 1965. Together with Sibley's, Forman's and McCurdy's it formed the core of east-side department store retailing. Later the complex became a mini-mall called The Mill, which closed in 1978, and the buildings have since stood vacant. The building is valued for its blend of materials, style and ornament, and for its link to Rochester's retail history.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Crandall & Strobel (architect); Edwards Department Store (builder)","architectural_style":"Renaissance style with Neoclassical details","criteria":[],"status_note":"Vacant since The Mill closed in 1978; condition rated good; first-floor terra cotta covered with Carrara glass in the 1940s. A developer bought the complex in 1981 for office redevelopment.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:43.402847-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/84000287.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000287/1a5fd14ed9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000287/1a5fd14ed9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DanielPenfield","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EdwardsDepartmentStoreBuildingRochesterNewYork.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">DanielPenfield</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:EdwardsDepartmentStoreBuildingRochesterNewYork.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313610","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwards_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5346091"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/monroe-county/edwards-building-84000287/"}