{"nrhp_refnum":"90000418","name":"West 21st Street Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"125--262 W. 21st St. and 2014--2125 Sassafras St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Erie","county":"Erie County","state":"PA","lat":42.11451910450006,"lon":-80.0805206729658,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-03-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of late 19th and early 20th century residences along West 21st Street between Peach and Myrtle Streets in south Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania, comprising thirty-five buildings. The homes were erected between 1857 and 1939 in frame and brick construction.","why_significant":"The district is argued to be architecturally significant as a concentration of mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century buildings retaining high integrity, representative of homes built by Erie's middle and upper classes. It is also argued to be historically significant because it was home to prominent figures such as Heman Janes, co-founder of Standard Oil Company, and Henry Shenk, a contractor of important buildings in Western Pennsylvania.","narrative":"Built between 1857 and 1939 along West 21st Street in south Erie, the district contains thirty-five buildings, mostly brick in the 100 block and frame Victorian houses in the 200 block. Its architecture includes Italianate, Queen Anne, Romanesque, Victorian and Colonial Revival homes, reflecting the tastes of middle and upper class residents. The oldest building, the Italianate residence at 125 West 21st Street, was built in 1857 for Heman Janes, co-founder of Standard Oil. Henry Shenk, a prominent contractor, built a Romanesque Revival stone residence at the corner of Sassafras Street in 1882. The district is regarded as the best preserved concentration of middle and upper class housing of this period on the south side of Erie. Its homes were built on large lots and illustrate the growth of South Erie after it was annexed to Erie in 1873 and the railway opened in 1870.","period_of_significance":"1857-1939","architect_builder":"Shenk, Henry (builder, 1882 residence); Heman Janes (residence, 1857)","architectural_style":"Italianate, Queen Anne, Romanesque, Victorian, Colonial Revival","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Many of the residential buildings have been converted to multi-family use, and many homes have suffered remodeling.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:35.738017-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/90000418.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000418/82882db5eb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000418/82882db5eb-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_21st_Street_Historic_District_Erie_PA_Apr_13.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_21st_Street_Historic_District_Erie_PA_Apr_13.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995509","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_21st_Street_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7984214"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/erie-county/west-21st-street-historic-district-90000418/"}