The W.W. Griest Building, also known as the Lancaster Federal Building and PP&L Building, is a historic skyscraper located in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was designed by noted Lancaster architect C. Emlen Urban and built 1924–1925. It is built in the

Italian Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

style and is a steel frame building faced in

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, and

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 ...

. The Griest Building is fourteen stories tall and each floor measures 66 feet by 55 feet, or 3,600 square feet. The 12th floor, now office space, once housed a 300-seat

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

with a green and gold frescoed ceiling. A 53 foot tall tower was added to the top of the building in 1976. ''Note:'' This includes The W.W. Griest Building is the second tallest building in the city of Lancaster. The W.W. Griest Building is named after

William Walton Griest William Walton Griest (September 22, 1858 – December 5, 1929) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Biography William W. Griest was born in Christiana, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the Miller ...

, a former Pennsylvania

representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

and head of Lancaster Public Utilities. It has been listed on the U.S.

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 ...

since June 25, 1999.

References

External links

City of Lancaster, PA
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Lancaster, Pennsylvania History of Lancaster, Pennsylvania Renaissance Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Commercial buildings completed in 1925 National Register of Historic Places in Lancaster, Pennsylvania Skyscrapers in Pennsylvania Skyscraper office buildings in Pennsylvania