{"nrhp_refnum":"91001708","name":"Ogontz Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"7175--7165 Ogontz Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.063421566000045,"lon":-75.15105737238882,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-11-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Ogontz Hall is a mixed-use complex in West Oak Lane, Philadelphia, consisting of a four-and-one-half-story apartment house over a retail arcade at the five-point intersection of Ogontz Avenue, together with five three-story units at nos. 7175 to 7165 Ogontz Avenue. It was built in 1929.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is one of the best remaining examples of speculative apartment development of its period in Philadelphia, built for automobile-era outer neighborhoods. Its combination of a commercial ground floor with residential units above, designed in the Spanish Colonial idiom of nearby rowhouses, is described as unique for the period citywide. The building is also presented as one of the architect's last credited apartment designs, with its unit layout unchanged over time.","narrative":"Built in 1929 in West Oak Lane, Philadelphia, Ogontz Hall combines a four-and-one-half-story apartment house with a commercial arcade at street level, forming a complex of six buildings along Ogontz Avenue at a five-point intersection. Designed by G. Harold Murphy for client George Nalun, it uses the Spanish Colonial revival idiom common to the neighborhood, with buff brick, limestone detailing, and terra cotta tile roofs. Its significance lies in its hybrid form, pairing urban-style commercial ground floors with residential apartments above, a pattern regarded as unusual for the period in the city. Each of the 1929 units was a one-bedroom flat, and this unit distribution remained unaltered for roughly fifty years. The building is also seen as an early example of the large suburban apartment house. A small fire and changing neighborhood fortunes led to the abandonment of the residential floors, and the building is now vacant.","period_of_significance":"1929","architect_builder":"G. Harold Murphy (architect)","architectural_style":"Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals, Spanish Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Vacant for a number of years and in an advanced state of decay; vandals stripped salvageable materials; residential floors abandoned after a small fire; retail spaces were partially occupied.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:35.801141-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/91001708.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001708/f4192b0da1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001708/f4192b0da1-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ogontz_Hall_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ogontz_Hall_Philly.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996976","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogontz_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7080203"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/ogontz-hall-91001708/"}