The Packard Motor Car Company Building, also known as the Press Building, is a historic
office
An office is a space where an Organization, organization's employees perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize objects and Goals, plans, action theory, goals of the organizati ...
building located at 317–321 N. Broad Street between Pearl and Wood Streets in the
Callowhill neighborhood of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The structure was built in 1910–11 and was designed by
Albert Kahn of the noted Detroit architectural firm of Kahn & Wilby. It is a nine-story, steel framed, reinforced
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
building – one of the first uses of that material in a commercial building. Clad in
terra cotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
and featuring an ornamented canopy and a prominent overhanging roof, the building housed a showroom and new car inventory space for the
Packard Motor Car Company
Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958.
One of the "Thr ...
.
[ ''Note:'' This includes ][, p.97] The showroom was remodeled in 1927 by Philip Tyre.
[, p.136] In November 1928, the building became the headquarters of the ''
Philadelphia Record
''The Philadelphia Record'' was a daily newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1877 until 1947. It became among the most circulated papers in the city and was at some points the circulation leader.
History
''The Public Record'' ...
'' newspaper, which it remained until the ''Record'' folded in a 1947 strike.
The building 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 1980.
It is a
contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...
to the
Callowhill Industrial Historic District. The building was renovated into apartments in 1986 by Bower Lewis Thrower and John Milner Associates.
See also
*
*
Packard Motor Car Dealership (Buffalo, New York)
Packard Motor Car Showroom and Storage Facility is a historic automobile showroom located at Buffalo in Erie County, New York. It is a three-story, reinforced concrete frame structure with restrained Neo-classical detailing. It was designed b ...
*
Packard Motor Car Dealership (Dayton, Ohio)
America's Packard Museum is an automotive museum located in Dayton, Ohio.
History
The Citizens Motorcar Company, known as America's Packard Museum, is a restored Packard dealership transformed into a museum that displays twentieth-century classic ...
References
Notes
External links
*
The Packard Motor Car Building , Apartments in Center City Philadelphia
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia
Office buildings completed in 1911
Historic district contributing properties in Pennsylvania
Packard
Auto dealerships on the National Register of Historic Places
Callowhill, Philadelphia
Motor vehicle buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places
Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
1911 establishments in Pennsylvania
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