The New Kensington Downtown Historic District, also known as the New Kensington Commercial and Residential Historic District, is a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

that is located in

New Kensington New Kensington, known locally as New Ken, is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It is situated along the Allegheny River, northeast of Pittsburgh. The population was 12,170 at the 2010 census. History Like much of Westmoreland Cou ...

Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Westmoreland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 364,663. The county seat is Greensburg. Formed from, successively, Lancaster, Northumberland, and later Bedford co ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1998.

History and architectural features

This district encompasses 143 contributing buildings that are located in the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

and surrounding residential areas of New Kensington. Built roughly between 1891 and 1947, they are a mix of residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial properties that were designed in a variety of popular architectural styles, including

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

, Beaux-Arts, and

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

. Notable buildings include the Mellon Bank Building (1900), the PNC Bank (1914), the Wear Ever Building (1914–1915), the U.S. Post Office (1933), the Ritz Theater (1921–1922), the Datola Theater (1942), the Columbus Theater (1927), and the White Castle Restaurant (c. 1921–1928). ''Note:'' This includes It was added to the

in 1998.

References

External links

* * {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Beaux-Arts architecture in Pennsylvania Colonial Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Historic districts in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania New Kensington, Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania