Schnader, R. K. & Sons, Tobacco Warehouse
Why it's listed
Built about 1890 in Lancaster City, this two-story red brick tobacco warehouse stands over a raised basement and measures three bays wide by roughly one hundred feet deep. Its south gable end faces the street and is ornamented only by a brick corbelled cornice with dentils. Owned by R. K. Schnader & Sons around 1900, it stood beside the company's three-story cigar factory, which has since been demolished. Sanborn maps show the family still held the pair of buildings in 1912, when both remained in the tobacco trade. Later the warehouse served the Keystone Burlap Bag Company. The building is listed for its association with Lancaster's cigar leaf tobacco processing and storage industry, which was among the city's most important in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is also significant as a representative example of the industrial tobacco warehouse type of the period, with a simple, characteristic plan and decoration.
Significance in brief: The building is significant as an integral part of Lancaster City's late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century cigar leaf tobacco processing and storage industry. It is regarded as a representative example of the tobacco warehouse property type of the period, and its simple corbelled brick cornice is characteristic of that type. The nomination treats it as a late example of the front-gabled pitched roof warehouse.
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 90001404, listed September 21, 1990. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 437--439 W. Grant St., Lancaster |
|---|---|
| County | Lancaster County |
| Listed | September 21, 1990 |
| Reference number | 90001404 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | C. 1890-1912 |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Used for storage by the American National Red Cross |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | Lancaster City Historic District |
| Coordinates | 40.03798, -76.31456 (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 90001404.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7273763
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.