Downtown Altoona Historic District (Boundary Increase)
The National Park Service has not published a boundary polygon for this district; the map shows the listed properties inside it and the district's reference point.
Why it's listed
Along 11th and 12th Avenues in downtown Altoona, Blair County, this extension adds eleven contributing buildings to an existing district, most built in the 1920s. Eleventh Avenue was the city's main commercial street in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and was nicknamed the Great White Way after electric light posts were installed in 1910. The contributing buildings are mostly two- and three-story brick commercial blocks with large upper-story windows, some with tri-partite Chicago-style openings. The Aaron-Penn Furniture Building includes a five-story addition. The First Evangelical Lutheran Church, a sandstone building completed in 1896-97 at 12th Avenue and 14th Street, is the only non-commercial contributor. Gable's Department Store and its annex are counted as non-contributing because 1970s brick veneer hides their historic facades.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · catalog entry. Generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29).
| Styles | Late Gothic Revival (church); Commercial and Neo-Classical influences (commercial buildings) |
|---|---|
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Architecture |
| Acreage | 3.9 |
| Boundary source | not published |
| Full listing page | Downtown Altoona Historic District (Boundary Increase) (property record) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.