{"nrhp_refnum":"85002850","name":"Court Exchange Building-National Casket Company","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"142 Exchange St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rochester","county":"Monroe County","state":"NY","lat":43.15252349200006,"lon":-77.61069585699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-10-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A six-story brick manufacturing and warehouse building at 142 Exchange Street in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, built in 1881 to designs by Harvey Ellis for casket maker Samuel Stein.","why_significant":"It is a rare surviving commercial work by Harvey Ellis, a prominent late nineteenth century Rochester architect, within the Inner Loop area. Its Richardsonian Romanesque design resembles the emerging Chicago School, and it is an isolated survivor of a once common building type. It is also tied to Samuel Stein's casket business, which became part of the National Casket Company.","narrative":"Rising six stories beside the Genesee River at 142 Exchange Street in Rochester, this brick building was designed in 1881 by architect Harvey Ellis for Samuel Stein, a local casket manufacturer. Load-bearing brick walls, cast-iron columns and a heavy timber frame support the structure. Its Richardsonian Romanesque facade features a blind arcade at the parapet, tall arches over the upper floors, tripartite windows and embossed cast-iron piers at street level. Ellis is best known for the Old Federal Building, and this is one of his earliest surviving Rochester works and one of only a few of his commercial buildings still standing. Stein's firm pioneered the cabinet-style casket, exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, and supplied President Grant's casket in 1885. It became part of the National Casket Company in 1890. The building served casket production until 1984, when renovation added an atrium wing and converted it to offices. It is valued as an isolated survivor of Rochester's 1880s industrial architecture.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect: Harvey Ellis; builder unknown","architectural_style":"Richardsonian Romanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used continuously until 1984 to manufacture, display and warehouse caskets; now offices, in excellent condition after a 1984 renovation and atrium addition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.043863-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/85002850.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002850/a8a382871b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002850/a8a382871b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Matthew D. Wilson (LtPowers)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rochester_-_Court-Exchange_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Matthew D. Wilson (LtPowers)</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:Rochester_-_Court-Exchange_Building.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313591","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court%E2%80%93Exchange_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5178802"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/monroe-county/court-exchange-building-national-casket-company-85002850/"}