{"nrhp_refnum":"89002297","name":"Old Uptown Harrisburg Historic District","other_names":["See Also:Cameron, Simon, School"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by McClay, N. Third, Reily, N. Second, and Calder","address_restricted":false,"city":"Harrisburg","county":"Dauphin County","state":"PA","lat":40.27411785150005,"lon":-76.89491487297687,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-01-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A residential historic district of duplex and row housing in the Old Uptown area of Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, located near and parallel to the Susquehanna River north of the central business district. Its buildings were mainly developed between 1895 and 1905 by speculative builders, including Benjamin Engle and the firm of Gettys and Girvin.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is a cohesive late 19th and early 20th century residential area, unified by a consistent Queen Anne treatment and the work of a small number of developers. It states that the district remains largely intact, with few demolitions or alterations, and that it houses Harrisburg's largest and most cohesively developed Queen Anne neighborhood. Its houses were built for merchants, professionals and business people during the city's rapid growth.","narrative":"Old Uptown is a residential district of duplex and row houses in north Harrisburg, lying on the low flood plain near the Susquehanna River. Most of its buildings were erected between 1895 and 1905, with contributing houses dating from 1885 to 1930. Benjamin Engle, a lumber dealer and real estate salesman, built most of the blocks between Second and Third Streets and Reily and Kelker Streets, using a common floor plan with varied facade treatments of turrets, bays, fish-scale shingles and stained glass. North of Kelker Street, Gettys and Girvin built rows of four to ten nearly identical Queen Anne houses in a simpler late style. The district was built for merchants, professionals and white-collar workers during the city's rapid population growth. Its consistent architecture and high degree of preservation are the main reasons for its recognition.","period_of_significance":"1885-1930","architect_builder":"Benjamin Engle (developer); Gettys and Girvin (principal builders); Charles Howard Lloyd (architect of Simon Cameron School); Abner Richter (architect of Harris Street United Methodist Church)","architectural_style":"Queen Anne, Italianate, Romanesque, Second Empire, Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Largely intact; some buildings demolished or converted to offices, and some properties deteriorated","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:38.162448-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/89002297.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002297/8f0d39fc9d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002297/8f0d39fc9d-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uptown_Harrisburg_PA_HD_21xx_Green.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uptown_Harrisburg_PA_HD_21xx_Green.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995777","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Uptown_Historic_District_(Harrisburg)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7085365"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/dauphin-county/old-uptown-harrisburg-historic-district-89002297/"}