Harrisburg 19th Street Armory
Why it's listed
Built in 1938 in the Moderne style, the Harrisburg 19th Street Armory is a stucco-covered concrete building set into a slight hill that slopes upward toward its rear. Its modified T plan places administrative rooms in the exposed basement and first floor of the front section, with a garage on the first floor and a drill hall on the second floor of the rear section. The drill hall is supported by steel flat Pratt trusses and has concrete block walls and a wood floor. A concrete wall with chevron, cannon and "PNG" designs fronts the building and is original to the 1938 construction. Edmund George Good, Jr. of Harrisburg designed the armory, one of seventeen Pennsylvania armories built that year. It is significant for its association with the Pennsylvania National Guard, which used it for storage, meetings and training, and as a representative example of the armory building type. In 1974 Carl J. Schmitt and Son of Wilkes-Barre added an annex on the south side and southeast corner.
Significance in brief: The armory is one of seventeen Pennsylvania armories constructed in 1938 and is significant in the context of Pennsylvania's military history as a distinctive building type. It served the Pennsylvania National Guard for storage, meeting and training, and its interior contains spaces typical of T-plan armories, including a drill hall. The nomination states it retains good integrity apart from the 1974 addition.
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) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 91001696, listed November 14, 1991. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 1313 S. 19th St., Harrisburg |
|---|---|
| County | Dauphin County |
| Listed | November 14, 1991 |
| Reference number | 91001696 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1938-1940 |
| Architect / builder | Good, Jr., Edmund George; Schmitt, Carl J. and Son |
| Architectural style | Moderne |
| Criteria |
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| Areas of significance | Military, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Acreage | 0.5 |
| Coordinates | 40.25062, -76.85222 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 91001696.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5665202
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.