{"nrhp_refnum":"97001258","name":"Cassese, Joseph, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1000 Clay Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Scranton","county":"Lackawanna County","state":"PA","lat":41.413127788000054,"lon":-75.64622467299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-10-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","European"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Italian Renaissance revival house at 1000 Clay Avenue in the Hill Section of Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, with a detached two-car garage built in 1913. The house was built in 1910-1911 for Joseph Cassese.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is locally significant under Criterion B for its association with Joseph Cassese, a prominent Italian-American businessman who served Italian immigrants in Scranton, and under Criterion C as an exceptional example of Italian Renaissance revival design, with Venetian detailing unusual in the region. Its elaborate limestone carving and architect-designed plan are cited as distinctive.","narrative":"Built in 1911 in Scranton's Hill Section, this three-story house is finished in ochre brick over a frame structure, with a terra-cotta tile roof and a granite foundation. Its most distinctive feature is a two-tier limestone porch with arcades, tracery and small caryatid-like figures, which gives the house the look of a late medieval Venetian palazzo. Architect Lewis Hancock Jr. designed the house for Joseph Cassese, a shoemaker who built a business group in downtown Scranton offering banking, lodging, restaurant and steamship services to Italian immigrants. Frank Carlucci, whose firm was a major stonework company in northeastern Pennsylvania, served as general contractor and oversaw the carved stone. The interior retains its original public rooms, including a carved limestone library mantel. Cassese died in 1913, and the house was later divided into apartments and became the home of the Fiorani family, whose radio station WPTS was based in the region.","period_of_significance":"1911","architect_builder":"Lewis Hancock Jr. (architect); Frank Carlucci (general contractor)","architectural_style":"Italian Renaissance","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Converted to apartments between 1926 and 1933; the first floor is occupied by the owner's family and the upper floors are rented.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:37.130756-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/97001258.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001258/d250b25cd1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001258/d250b25cd1-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Cassese_House_Scranton_PA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Cassese_House_Scranton_PA.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993113","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cassese_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6282030"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lackawanna-county/cassese-joseph-house-97001258/"}