West Norristown Historic District

Rows of brick rowhouses and semi-detached twins make up most of this Norristown neighborhood, laid out on a grid that climbs westward from Stoney Creek and developed between the 1850s and the early 1900s. Speculative builders filled the blocks with three-story brick rows, most notably on Astor, Chain, George and Kohn Streets, and the houses display a sequence of Victorian styles that changes block by block as one moves up the hill. West Main Street, once the fashionable address, holds large towered semi-detached houses and mansions, including the Romanesque Wentz House of 1895. West Marshall Street served as the neighborhood's commercial center, anchored by the 1876 Western Market Hall. Surviving mills and factories along Stoney Creek, such as the Quaker City Shirt Works and the Norristown Grain Binder Works, record the area's early industry. Its concentration of intact housing and related buildings is what the nomination regards as its main distinction.