Brimmer, John, Tobacco Warehouse
Approximate location: the National Park Service places this pin arbitrarily within the property, not at a surveyed point (stated accuracy ±12 m).
Why it's listed
Brick tobacco warehouse on North Prince and North Water Streets in Lancaster, built around 1900 and rising three stories above a stone foundation. It spans a full city block, with a flat roof and a cornice decorated on its east and west elevations. The east facade on North Prince Street has wooden lintels and a pressed metal cornice with modillions and Eastlake-type brackets, a detail the nomination calls unusual for the property type, where brick corbelled cornices were nearly universal. The west elevation on North Water Street, once the loading side facing a railroad line since removed, has a high basement with garage entrances and brick segmental arches over its windows. John Brimmer began leaf tobacco operations here in 1901, and the building appears in its present form on the 1912 Sanborn map. It was occupied by the American Cigar Company in 1931 and still served as a tobacco warehouse in 1947. The building is significant as a representative example of the early twentieth-century warehouses that processed cigar leaf, one of Lancaster's major industries of that period.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the building is significant for its role in Lancaster City's late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century cigar leaf tobacco processing and storage industry. It is presented as a good example of the four-story, flat-roofed variant of tobacco warehouse common in the early twentieth century, and its pressed metal cornice is described as unusual within that property type.
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 90001390, listed September 21, 1990. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 226 N. Prince St., Lancaster |
|---|---|
| County | Lancaster County |
| Listed | September 21, 1990 |
| Reference number | 90001390 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | C. 1900-1940 |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The document states the building presently houses a photography business. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | Lancaster City Historic District |
| Coordinates | 40.04187, -76.29705 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
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 90001390.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q6223203
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.