ADDRESS: 1923 CHESTNUT ST Name of Resource: The J.E. Limeburner Co. Store Proposed Action: Designation Property Owner: 1923 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, LP Nominator: Center City Residents’ Association Staff Contact: Allyson Mehley, [email protected] OVERVIEW: This nomination proposes to designate the property at 1923 Chestnut Street as historic and list it on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The nomination contends that the property satisfies Criteria for Designation C, D, and E. Under Criteria C and D, the nomination contends that the J.E. Limeburner Co. store, constructed in 1925, embodies distinguishing characteristics of the Modern Classical Style and reflects the environment in an era influenced by modernism and classicism. Under Criterion E, the nomination argues that the building is the work of the prolific architectural firm Heacock & Hokanson, whose designs significantly influenced the built environment of the Greater Philadelphia region. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: The staff recommends that the nomination demonstrates that the property at 1923 Chestnut Street satisfies Criteria for Designation C, D, and E. 1. ADDRESS OF HISTORIC RESOURCE (must comply with an Office of Property Assessment address) Street address: 1923 Chestnut Street Postal code: 19103-4411 2. NAME OF HISTORIC RESOURCE Historic Name: The J.E. Limeburner Co. Store Current Name: TREK 3. TYPE OF HISTORIC RESOURCE Building Structure Site Object 4. PROPERTY INFORMATION Condition: excellent good fair poor ruins Occupancy: occupied vacant under construction unknown Current use: Commercial 5. BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION Please attach a narrative description and site/plot plan of the resource’s boundaries. 6. DESCRIPTION Please attach a narrative description and photographs of the resource’s physical appearance, site, setting, and surroundings. 7. SIGNIFICANCE Please attach a narrative Statement of Significance citing the Criteria for Designation the resource satisfies. Period of Significance (from year to year): 1925 Date(s) of construction and/or alteration: 1925 Architects: Heacock & Hokanson, Architects Builders: Farrell Roth Construction Co. Original owner: J.E. Limeburner Co. Significant person: Unknown CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: The historic resource satisfies the following criteria for designation (check all that apply): (a) Has significant character, interest or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the City, Commonwealth or Nation or is associated with the life of a person significant in the past; or, (b) Is associated with an event of importance to the history of the City, Commonwealth or Nation; or, (c) Reflects the environment in an era characterized by a distinctive architectural style; or, (d) Embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or engineering specimen; or, (e) Is the work of a designer, architect, landscape architect or designer, or engineer whose work has significantly influenced the historical, architectural, economic, social, or cultural development of the City, Commonwealth or Nation; or, (f) Contains elements of design, detail, materials or craftsmanship which represent a significant innovation; or, (g) Is part of or related to a square, park or other distinctive area which should be preserved according to an historic, cultural or architectural motif; or, (h) Owing to its unique location or singular physical characteristic, represents an established and familiar visual feature of the neighborhood, community or City; or, (i) Has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in pre-history or history; or (j) Exemplifies the cultural, political, economic, social or historical heritage of the community. 8. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Please attach a bibliography. 9. NOMINATOR Organization: Historic Building Preservation Task Force of the Center City Residents’ Association Author: Oscar Beisert, Architectural Historian Date: 3 February 2020 Keeping Society of Philadelphia Address: 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 320 Telephone: 717.602.5002 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107 Email: [email protected] Nominator is is not the property owner. PHC USE ONLY Date of Receipt:_______________________________________________________________________22 February 2021 Correct-Complete Incorrect-Incomplete Date:_________________________________24 May 2021 Date of Notice Issuance:_________________________________________________________________21 June 2021 Property Owner at Time of Notice: Name:_________________________________________________________________________1923 Chestnut Street Philadelphia LP Address:_______________________________________________________________________1301 Chestnut St ______________________________________________________________________________ City:_______________________________________Philadelphia State:____PA Postal Code:_________19103 Date(s) Reviewed by the Committee on Historic Designation:____________________________________ Date(s) Reviewed by the Historical Commission:______________________________________ ________ Date of Final Action:__________________________________________________________ Designated Rejected 12/7/18 NOMINATION FOR THE PHILADELPHIA REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Figure 1. The primary (south) elevation of the subject property. Source: Oscar Beisert, 2020. The J.E. Limeburner Co. Store In the Modern Classical Style – Built 1925 – 1923 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-4411 Nomination to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, December 2020 - 3 The J.E. Limeburner Co. Store, 1923 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-4411 Figure 2. The boundary for the subject property is delineated by the purple line. Source: Atlas, City of Philadelphia, 2020. 5. BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION The boundary for the designation of the subject property is as follows: ALL THAT CERTAIN lot of piece of ground with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, SITUATE at 1923 Chestnut Street, containing in front or breadth on Chestnut Street at the south twenty feet, extending to Ranstead Street 158 feet at the east and west to the south side of Ranstead Street with twenty feet front at that elevation. BEING known as 1923 Chestnut Street. Map Registry No. 001S110070 OPA Account No. 882390150 Nomination to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, December 2020 - 4 The J.E. Limeburner Co. Store, 1923 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-4411 Figure 3. The primary (south) elevation of the J.E.Limeburner Store. Source: Oscar Beisert, 2020. 6. Physical Description The J.E. Limeburner Co. Store at 1923 Chestnut Street is a four-story masonry commercial structure with a limestone façade designed in 1925 by the architecture firm of Heacock & Hokanson in a restrained Palazzo style reflective of the interwar years. Set within a vignette of earlier nineteenth-century attached four-story buildings that largely began as dwellings, the subject building is a less common purpose-built store in the ubiquitous form of a row house. The building is one of the few in the block that occupies the entirety of its parcel, stretching from Chestnut Street at the south to the extreme north, terminating at Ranstead Street. Nomination to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, December 2020 - 5 The J.E. Limeburner Co. Store, 1923 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-4411 Figure 4. The primary (south) elevation of the storefront of the J.E. Limeburner Store. Source: Oscar Beisert, 2020. The primary (south) elevation is dominated by an impressive limestone storefront surround that rests on a granite base. Within the larger smooth-faced stone is a recessed molding in the form of a floriated banderol, which delineates the stone façade from a contemporary glazed storefront. Original or period-appropriate metal lamps flank the central opening, extending from the limestone façade on elaborate brackets, these are Gothic-inspired fixtures, emulating the familiar forms employed by Samuel Yellin. Above the storefront, within the limestone, is a banner featuring incised text: “J. E. LIMEBURNER CO.”, a marker that is flanked by limestone rosettes. The first floor is delineated from the second by two consecutive bands of molding—the lower featuring a Greek key motif, while the upper is a simple conge type. Nomination to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, December 2020 - 6 The J.E. Limeburner Co. Store, 1923 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-4411 Figure 5. Details at the eastern extreme of the primary (south) elevation of the J.E.Limeburner Store. Source: Oscar Beisert, 2020. As previously stated, the fenestration and treatment of the upper floors resembles that of a chaste Palazzo, an aesthetic enhanced by a façade of smooth-faced limestone ashlar that is only faintly visible from the street in its restrained presentation. The second floor reads as an understated piano nobile, featuring three floor-length, round arch openings delineated by flush, smooth-faced limestone voussoirs set within the ashlar facade. Early or sympathetic metal casement windows with matching, four-light transoms fill these second-floor openings. With no demarcation between the second and third floors, the symmetrical fenestration continues on the with smaller, rectangular windows featuring like-metal casement fixtures with single light transoms. These openings feature simple rectangular sills that project slightly from the façade. The third and fourth floors are delineated by a band of molding in the form of a