Strawbridge and Clothier Store, Jenkintown
The Strawbridge and Clothier Store is a historic department store building located at Jenkintown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It was built by Strawbridge & Clothier in 1930-1931 and renovated and expanded in 1954. It closed in 1988 when it relocated to the Willow Grove Park Mall. It is now an office building, multi-tenant.
Strawbridge and Clothier Store, Jenkintown | |
 The store in 2012 | |
   | |
| Location | 680 Old York Rd. N of Rydal Rd. Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°6′6″N 75°7′32″W / 40.10167°N 75.12556°W |
| Area | 7.9 acres (3.2 ha) |
| Built | 1930-1931, 1954 |
| Architect | Dreher & Churchman; Herbert B. Beidler |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
| NRHP reference No. | 88003047[1] |
| Added to NRHP | December 22, 1988 |
History
editThe original section is a four-story, steel frame structure faced in limestone and on a granite base in the Art Deco style. It has a flat slag roof with parapet. The building features piers that extend above the roof parapet, two-story projecting entrance pavilions, a one-story flat roofed extension with elegant display windows, and two five-story towers. The addition is a three-story structure with a parking garage. It was built as the second suburban branch of Strawbridge and Clothier.[2] This Strawbridge & Clothier store closed in 1988 when it relocated to the Willow Grove Park Mall.[3] In the late 1990s, the building served as the headquarters of fast-growing online music retailer CDNow. It currently houses an Outback Steakhouse.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.[1]
The building was built on the site of Wyndhurst, banker John Milton Colton's estate containing a Horace Trumbauer-designed Tudor-style residence built 1899-1900.[4] The main residence was razed in 1930 to build the Jenkintown store, but one of the outbuildings in similar Tudor style remains at 2 Rydal Rd.[5]
References
editNotes
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes Patrick W. O'Bannon and Diane E. Newbury (October 1988). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Strawbridge and Clothier Store" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-05-05.
- ^ Giles, David M. (October 23, 1988). "Strawbridge: The Malling Of A Tradition". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 21, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2010.
- ^ Arrigale, Lawrence M.; Keels, Thomas H. (2012). Philadelphia's Golden Age of Retail. Arcadia Publishing. p. 106.
- ^ Old York Road Historical Society (2000). Abington, Jenkintown, and Rockledge. Arcadia Publishing. p. 40.
External links
edit
Media related to Strawbridge & Clothier Store, Jenkintown at Wikimedia Commons- Strawbridge & Clothier company records at Hagley Museum and Library
