{"nrhp_refnum":"90001402","name":"N. Shippen-Tobacco Avenue Historic District","other_names":["A.B. Hess Cigar Factory","R.H. Brubaker Tobacco Warehouse","Fran"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by N. Shippen St., Tobacco Ave., and E. Fulton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lancaster","county":"Lancaster County","state":"PA","lat":40.04299572700006,"lon":-76.29331905099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-09-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of eight contributing red brick tobacco industry buildings in Lancaster City, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, bounded by E. Walnut Street, N. Shippen Street, E. Fulton Street and an alley. The buildings date from about 1879 to 1905 and served as cigar factories and leaf tobacco warehouses.","why_significant":"The district is significant under criteria A and C as an integral part of Lancaster City's late nineteenth and early twentieth century cigar leaf tobacco processing and storage industry. Its buildings show the evolution from low end-gabled warehouses to taller flat-roofed structures, and the railroad right-of-way that served them illustrates the link between transportation and industry.","narrative":"Red brick tobacco warehouses and cigar factories built about 1879 to 1905 line Tobacco Avenue and the blocks around it in Lancaster City. The buildings were erected for the storage and processing of cigar leaf tobacco, a major regional commodity, and they were positioned along a Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way that carried tobacco and supplies to the district. By 1886 most of the warehouses stood along the avenue, and the A. B. Hess Cigar Factory was added by about 1905. Many buildings were later expanded, raised or combined to meet rising demand, so they show the shift from low end-gabled warehouses with moderately pitched roofs to four- and five-story structures with flat roofs and raised parapets. Their plain brick walls, stone or limestone foundations, high basements and sturdy post-and-beam construction typify Lancaster's industrial architecture. The district is regarded as a well-preserved concentration of tobacco industry resources, and its listing rests on its role in the city's industrial growth and on its representative buildings.","period_of_significance":"C. 1880-1940","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Three buildings were combined as N. Shippen Place, rehabilitated under a certified rehabilitation, and are now apartments and offices; other buildings are in use by a plumbing supply firm and an artificial flowers firm.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:37.228413-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/90001402.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001402/6796fda672-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001402/6796fda672-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tobacco_Ave_HD_Lancaster.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tobacco_Ave_HD_Lancaster.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"01000956","name":"Lancaster City Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/lancaster-city-historic-district-01000956/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993281","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Shippen%E2%80%93Tobacco_Avenue_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15262531"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lancaster-county/n-shippen-tobacco-avenue-historic-district-90001402/"}