{"nrhp_refnum":"85003507","name":"Commercial Hotel","other_names":["General Pershing Hotel"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Long and Brady Aves.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dubois","county":"Clearfield County","state":"PA","lat":41.09053839000006,"lon":-78.76286269499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-11-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story masonry hotel building at the major downtown corner of DuBois, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, with common brick walls veneered in buff-colored Roman brick on its two principal elevations. It was built in 1889 by John H. Bierly and enlarged in 1901 by the later owner Joseph Bensinger.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the Commercial Hotel is locally significant for the commercial and transportation history of DuBois, as the only surviving hotel in the city that has served its original use continuously since construction. It also stresses the building's largely intact 1901 upper facade and its link to the city's early twentieth-century growth. The hotel's operator, Joseph Bensinger, is cited as a leading Pennsylvania hotelman.","narrative":"At the busiest corner of downtown DuBois, the Commercial Hotel is a four-story masonry building with common brick walls faced in buff Roman brick on its two principal elevations. John H. Bierly, a Lock Haven tobacco merchant, began it in 1888 after a major fire, and it opened as a hotel on March 8, 1889, with fifty-eight rooms. In 1901 Joseph Bensinger bought it and added two stories, the Roman brick veneer, and Colonial Revival detailing, bringing the room count to about 100. Its upper facades survive largely intact from 1901, with brownstone lintels, corbeled brickwork, and a pressed-metal cornice. The hotel was the site of the 1902 organization of the United Commercial Travellers in DuBois and served travelling salesmen for decades. Its continuous use as a hotel since 1889 is the main reason it is considered significant to the town's commercial history.","period_of_significance":"1889-1937","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial Revival detailing","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Minimally altered exterior; the 1937 movie house replaced two Brady Avenue storefronts and the first-floor storefront has been altered.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.536182-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/85003507.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995305","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Hotel_(DuBois,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5152499"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/clearfield-county/commercial-hotel-85003507/"}