{"nrhp_refnum":"94000819","name":"Perris Depot","other_names":["Santa Fe Depot"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"120 W. Fourth St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Perris","county":"Riverside County","state":"CA","lat":33.77358831300006,"lon":-117.22971767299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-08-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A red brick railroad depot at 120 W. Fourth Street in Perris, Riverside County, California, completed in 1892 and designed by architect Benjamin Franklin Levet Sr.; built by J. W. Nance.","why_significant":"The depot is a largely unaltered example of Queen Anne architecture, unusually elaborate for a small-town station. It served as the social and commercial center of Perris and a transportation hub for the valley's farming booms. Significance is argued at the local level under architecture, transportation and exploration/settlement.","narrative":"Perris Depot is a red brick railroad station on Fourth Street in downtown Perris, California, completed in 1892. Architect Benjamin Franklin Levet Sr., who designed many Santa Fe depots in the state, drew up the plans, and local builder J. W. Nance carried out the construction. Its Queen Anne character shows in a shingled, conical-roofed tower, arched entrances, round windows and machine-cut gingerbread trim. Most small-town stations followed standard frame plans, so this brick building stood out as unusually elaborate. The depot became the commercial and social center of the community, handling freight, mail and passengers through successive booms in irrigated farming, alfalfa and potatoes. Passenger service ended in 1947 and the freight agency closed in 1969, when the building passed to the Orange Empire Railway Museum. The structure remains essentially as built, with only minor, reversible changes. Its listing recognizes its architecture, its role in regional transportation and its place in the settlement of Perris Valley.","period_of_significance":"1892-1944","architect_builder":"Levet Sr., Benjamin Franklin","architectural_style":"Queen Anne","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Now used as a museum; the depot was given to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in 1969, and the freight house has housed local historical exhibits since 1974.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.259216-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/94000819.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000819/ff855311d1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000819/ff855311d1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ymblanter, 11 March 2012","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perris_Depot.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ymblanter, 11 March 2012</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perris_Depot.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860505","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perris_station_(Atchison,_Topeka_and_Santa_Fe_Railway)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7169655"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/riverside-county/perris-depot-94000819/"}