Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building
National Register of Historic Places

Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building

Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Listed
October 27, 1999
Type
Building
Period
Civil War
Ref No.
99001291

About this property

The Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building is an historic freight station, warehouse and showroom building in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1929, this historic structure is a six-story, flat-roofed building that was designed in the Art Deco style. Each floor contains approximately 88,000 square feet. The first floor is clad in limestone and the upper stories are of buff-colored brick. From 1956 to 1993, this building was the GE Re-entry Systems facility, where "thousands of engineers and technicians who solved the problem of vehicles successfully reentering the Earth's atmosphere" for NASA. Among the achievements of the men and women working at the facility was "the recovery of the first man-made object from orbit," a unique milestone for humanity. Generations of University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University students who worked there know it as "The GE Building." It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. For this work, The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) designated it as an Historic Aerospace Site in 2007. The building has been converted to residential use and is now known as the Left Bank.

Location

3118-3198 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
39.95384, -75.19841

Categories

TRANSPORTATIONCOMMERCEARCHITECTURE
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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Native Heritage
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Nearby Historic Sites

Protestant Episcopal Church of the Saviour
Industrial
0.1 mi
St. Anthony Hall House
Industrial
0.2 mi
Hotel Pennsylvania
Industrial
0.2 mi
University of Pennsylvania Campus Historic District
Listed
0.3 mi
Drexel Development Historic District
Listed
0.3 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Germantown Oct 4 1777
1777Revolutionary War
1.2 mi
Battle of Barren Hill
1778Revolutionary War
2.8 mi
Battle of Fort Mifflin
1777Revolutionary War
5.1 mi
Fort Mercer (Battle of Red Bank)
1777Revolutionary War
5.2 mi

Questions about this property

When was Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building listed on the National Register?

Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 27, 1999.

What type of historic resource is Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building?

Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building?

The period of significance for Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Building is recorded as the civil_war era.

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