{"nrhp_refnum":"98001366","name":"Cobbs Creek Automobile Suburb Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Cobbs Creek Parkway, Spruce St., 62nd St., and Angora St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.95221945050005,"lon":-75.24730671187278,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-11-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district centered on Cobbs Creek Parkway along the western edge of Philadelphia, stretching roughly from Catharine Street to the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, including the adjacent creek park. It is composed mainly of early twentieth-century porch-front twin and row houses with rear garages and alley access.","why_significant":"The district is argued to be the city's first middle-class automobile-centered neighborhood, combining a new parkway, park, housing and automobile parking. Its houses incorporated garages in rear basements, rear alleys and shared drives, which the nomination presents as early and distinctive responses to the car in residential design. The area is also linked to earlier Sellers family mills on Cobbs Creek and to the city's planning efforts for parkways and transit.","narrative":"Along Cobbs Creek Parkway on Philadelphia's western boundary, the district is made up of two and three-story porch-front twin and row houses built mostly in the early twentieth century. Many are of tan and yellow brick with pressed metal detail, and the designs draw on Arts and Crafts, half-timbered Gothic, Spanish and Colonial Revival features. The area was previously developed for Cobbs Creek water-powered mills, owned by the Sellers family, and the park was created when the city acquired the mill land under early twentieth-century parkway planning. Its houses are notable for accommodating the automobile through rear basement garages, alley access and shared rear drives. Development followed the parkway's opening and was not served by a transit line, which made car-based housing a practical choice. The nomination regards the district as an early example of the car being built into middle-class residential design in Philadelphia.","period_of_significance":"1880-1945","architect_builder":"Wilson, E. A.; Fieldstein, J. Ethan; Perrot, Emile; Gilchrist, Edmund B.; Henon and Boyle; Henon and Hoffman; Watson and Huckel","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Other (Arts & Crafts)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.70274-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/98001366.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997182","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131398077"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/cobbs-creek-automobile-suburb-historic-district-98001366/"}