{"nrhp_refnum":"84003544","name":"Holman, A. J., and Company","other_names":["Holman Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1222-26 Arch St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.95380561300004,"lon":-75.16024097299999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-05-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-story red brick loft building on the 1200 block of Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, built in 1881 for the A.J. Holman and Company Bible publishing firm, extending south to an industrial facade on Cuthbert Street.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be significant for its architecture and engineering, designed by the Wilson Brothers, and for its planning, which used light wells and fire separation to reduce the hazards of printing with volatile inks. It is also linked to the history of the Holman company, one of Philadelphia's oldest publishers, and to the shift of the printing trades toward the light manufacturing district north of Market Street.","narrative":"Built in 1881 on the 1200 block of Arch Street in Philadelphia, this five-story red brick loft building was designed by the Wilson Brothers for the A.J. Holman and Company Bible publishing firm. Its public Arch Street facade combines a cast iron base framing shop fronts, three brick stories, and a cast iron colonnade under a brick cornice, with a triangular pediment bearing the date 1881 below a Gothic arch. The building is valued for its planning, which divided the structure transversely and used light wells along the party wall to ventilate the rear printing plant and separate it from the front offices, with iron shutters that could close the light wells in case of fire. Its stair hall was finished to a higher standard than typical industrial work. The company was one of the city's oldest publishers, tracing its origins to an earlier German-language Bible printer, and the building is also noted as an early publishing building in the district that drew the printing trades west of the older centre near 7th Street.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Wilson Brothers","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Excellent condition, unaltered, original site, as checked on the form; interior described as much altered in places.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.451932-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/84003544.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003544/a861cbaf65-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003544/a861cbaf65-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Difference engine","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A._J._Holman_and_Company_building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Difference engine</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A._J._Holman_and_Company_building.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"84003531","name":"East Center City Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/east-center-city-commercial-historic-district-84003531/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997314","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.J._Holman_and_Company_building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4647208"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/holman-a-j-and-company-84003544/"}