{"nrhp_refnum":"96001194","name":"Boston Store","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"716--728 State St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Erie","county":"Erie County","state":"PA","lat":42.127255742000045,"lon":-80.08525835899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-10-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A six-story department store building on State Street in downtown Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania, built 1929-1931 for the Boston Store, with 1949 and 1950 additions on Peach and W. 8th streets.","why_significant":"The building is presented as the most prominent surviving element of Erie's 20th-century commercial boom and as a restrained Art Deco design that dominates the city's central business district. Its bell and clock tower is described as an enduring city landmark. The store is also tied to the development of department stores in the region and to Erie's retail history from the 1880s to its closing in 1979.","narrative":"Erie's most prominent downtown department store, the six-story Boston Store occupies the center of the block bounded by State, Peach, 7th and W. 8th streets. Designed in 1929 by the Erie firm Shutts & Morrison and completed in 1930 or 1931, the buff brick building has a steel frame, a restrained Art Deco facade and a four-sided bell and clock tower rising nearly forty feet above the parapet, with a 12-foot clock face. The store grew from an 1885 dry goods business founded by Elisha H. Mack and expanded by buying neighboring parcels over four decades. Its interior offered a wide range of merchandise, restaurants and services, and it drew shoppers from surrounding towns on free excursion trains. Additions in 1949 and 1950 extended the building. The store operated until it closed in 1979, after which the building stood vacant. It is valued for its architecture and its role in the city's commercial history.","period_of_significance":"1929-1950","architect_builder":"Shutts & Morrison (architects); Myers & Krider (architects for 1949-1950 additions)","architectural_style":"Art Deco","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Vacant after the store closed in 1979; the document describes the building as vacant and subject to redevelopment proposals.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.107043-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/96001194.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001194/2635e90423-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001194/2635e90423-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Niagara","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_Store_Erie,_PA_Sept_2013.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Niagara</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:Boston_Store_Erie,_PA_Sept_2013.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995507","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Store_(Erie,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4948118"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/erie-county/boston-store-96001194/"}