{"nrhp_refnum":"84000290","name":"Granite Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"124 E. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rochester","county":"Monroe County","state":"NY","lat":43.15697900200007,"lon":-77.60879483899998,"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 twelve-story retail and office building at 124 East Main Street in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, built in 1893 to designs by J. Foster Warner for the firm Sibley, Lindsay & Curr.","why_significant":"It was Rochester's first full skeletal steel skyscraper and is a distinctive example of Renaissance Revival and Beaux-Arts department store design. It is also tied to the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr retail firm and to the work of architect J. Foster Warner.","narrative":"Rising twelve stories at 124 East Main Street in Rochester, the Granite Building was completed in 1893 as a department store and office block for Sibley, Lindsay & Curr. Architect J. Foster Warner designed it with a skeletal steel frame encased in terra-cotta tile, making it the city's first full steel-frame skyscraper. Its upper facade combines buff pressed brick, marble Ionic columns, a colonnade and white terra-cotta swags under a bracketed cornice, showing Renaissance Revival and Beaux-Arts influence. The 1904 Great Sibley Fire gutted the interior, though the building fared better than its neighbors and was renovated in 1904-1905. The lower two floors were later covered by modern storefronts, while the upper floors keep their marble floors, oak trim and a ten-story iron stairway. The building matters for its early role in skyscraper design, its link to Rochester's leading retail firm, and its place in Warner's career; he kept an office there until 1937.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect: J. Foster Warner; Builder: Sibley Lindsay & Curr Company","architectural_style":"Renaissance Revival with Beaux-Arts details","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as fair; present use is retail and vacant. The first two floors were heavily altered, and neglect is noted as a threat.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.510716-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/84000290.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000290/cd133408bc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000290/cd133408bc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DanielPenfield","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GraniteBuildingRochesterNewYork.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:GraniteBuildingRochesterNewYork.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313612","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granite_Building_(Rochester,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5595833"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/monroe-county/granite-building-84000290/"}