North Charlotte Street Historic District

Ten brick industrial buildings line the west side of North Charlotte Street in Lancaster City, between Harrisburg Pike and West James Street, built between about 1876 and about 1920. John DeHaven erected the first six, tobacco warehouses laid in common bond brick with segmental-arched windows and original shutters on several. C.G. Schubert built the warehouse at 502 North Charlotte Street around 1880; its upper two floors were added around 1920 by the General Cigar Company. Henry Martin, who purchased much of the block in 1885, later expanded the Martin Brick Machine Company into adjoining buildings, including an erecting shop at 417 West Frederick Street with a facade dating from 1906. The buildings at 600 A and 417 West Frederick Street have the most ornate entrances because they housed offices. The district is significant for its link to tobacco, Lancaster City's leading industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and for its well-preserved group of warehouses that represents the industrial architecture of the period. Most buildings retain their original character, with few major changes.