{"nrhp_refnum":"85001131","name":"National Bank of North Philadelphia","other_names":["Beury Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3701 N. Broad St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.00968250400007,"lon":-75.14865460799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-05-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Beury Building is a eleven-story Art Deco office building with a three-story penthouse tower at 3701 North Broad Street, at the corner of Germantown Avenue in North Philadelphia. It was built beginning in 1926 as the National Bank of North Philadelphia, designed by William L. Lee.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is an unusually sophisticated Art Deco skyscraper in a neighborhood of rowhouses, and that it reflects the local prosperity of the 1920s and the North Broad Street corridor's development. It also connects the building to Charles E. Beury, the bank's first president and later president of Temple University.","narrative":"Built beginning in 1926 at the corner of North Broad Street and Germantown Avenue, the eleven-story building was designed by William L. Lee as the home of the National Bank of North Philadelphia. It rises above neighboring rowhouses with a limestone base, terra cotta bands, and a setback penthouse tower capped by a pyramidal roof with copper cladding. Its ornament, including Gothic balconies and Corinthian columns, reflects the Art Deco style as it was adapted in Philadelphia, where classical details were usually retained. The bank was founded in 1920 by local business figures and was led by Charles E. Beury, a lawyer and later president of Temple University. The bank closed after the 1929 stock market crash, and the building was afterward used for offices and renamed for Beury. It is significant as one of the city's most sophisticated examples of Art Deco design outside the center city.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"William L. Lee (architect)","architectural_style":"Art Deco","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Altered; the entrance surround was replaced, and the building was reused for offices after the bank closed.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.288625-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/85001131.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001131/c16ac08470-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001131/c16ac08470-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nat_Bank_North_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nat_Bank_North_Philly.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996940","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Bank_of_North_Philadelphia","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6970907"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/national-bank-of-north-philadelphia-85001131/"}