American Railway Express Company Garage
National Register of Historic Places

American Railway Express Company Garage

Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Listed
August 1, 2006
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
06000664

About this property

The American Railway Express Company Garage is a historic parking garage located at 3002-3028 Cecil B. Moore Ave. in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of north Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was designed by the firm Harris & Richards and constructed by the Robert E. Lamb Company in 1922 for developer John Presper Eckert, Sr. Eckert was the owner of the Philadelphia Realty Company, and during the 1920s he consulted with the American Railway Express Company (AREC) to build garages throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and Egypt. AREC's business was to ship express packages nationally by railway and to pick up and deliver them locally by truck. Thus AREC needed garages located near railway lines. The Philadelphia garage abuts railway tracks now owned by Amtrak and probably served customers in the Brewerytown neighborhood a few blocks to the south. Eckert's son, John Presper Eckert, Jr. later became famous as the inventor of ENIAC and other early computers. In August 2006, the site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Though a sign on the building proclaimed "Now Leasing," in photographs accompanying the 2006 NRHP nomination, and in September 2010 (see photograph above), the roof was removed in 2004. A new plan to restore the building was announced in 2015. The garage was to be turned into 36 apartments with parking, a pre-school and day care, and a fitness facility by Mosaic Development Partners and Cedar Grove Partners, with financing from Philadelphia LISC, historic tax credits and New Market Tax Credits.

Location

3002-3028 Cecil B. Moore Ave.
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
39.98388, -75.18378

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Houses at 1907-1951 N. 32nd St.
Civil War
0.2 mi
Kahn, Harry C. and Son, Warehouse
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0.3 mi
West Diamond Street Townhouse Historic District
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0.3 mi
Tanner, Henry O., House
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0.3 mi
Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church, Rectory and Parochial School
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0.3 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Germantown Oct 4 1777
1777Revolutionary War
3 mi
Battle of Germantown (approach actions)
1777Revolutionary War
4 mi
Battle of Barren Hill
1778Revolutionary War
4.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was American Railway Express Company Garage listed on the National Register?

American Railway Express Company Garage was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 2006.

What type of historic resource is American Railway Express Company Garage?

American Railway Express Company Garage is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for American Railway Express Company Garage?

The period of significance for American Railway Express Company Garage is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1922.

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