Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed
National Register of Historic Places

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed

Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Listed
September 7, 2011
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
11000649

About this property

The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed is an historic freight station in the Southwest Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along Broad Street. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011 and is today part of the Lincoln Square mixed-use development. The site had long been used by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad; in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln's funeral train made its first Philadelphia stop here. In 1876, the railroad began construction on the shed, a large one-and-one-half-story brick and stone building in the Late Gothic Revival style. It measures 99 feet, 5 inches wide and 235 feet long. It has a long, sloping roof supported by a Fink truss system, with glazed monitors. The shed was used for passenger trains for four years, but was used solely for freight operations after January 1882. The passenger station, along Washington Avenue, was demolished by the federal government during World War II to make space to store Marine Corps munitions and vehicles awaiting transport. By the late 1960s, the shed was sold for use as a warehouse. The head house and eight eastern bays were demolished a few years later. In 2011, the shed was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2016, developer Alterra Property Group began work on Lincoln Square, a $100 million mixed-use development on the site. The shed was rehabilitated and an eastern entrance added to create a space for a Sprouts supermarket. Designed by Philadelphia architectural firm Kelly Maiello, the project received several awards for preservation and adaptive reuse. Media related to Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed at Wikimedia Commons Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. PA-1611, "Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, Freight Station, Fifteenth & Carpenter Streets, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA", 10 photos, 2 photo caption pages

Location

1001 S. 15th St.
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
39.93911, -75.16817

Categories

ARCHITECTUREENGINEERING
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

Marine Corps Supply Activity
Civil War
0.1 mi
Stanton, Edwin M., School
Industrial
0.2 mi
Washington Avenue Historic District
Listed
0.2 mi
Franklin Hose Company No. 28
Industrial
0.2 mi
Tindley Temple United Methodist Church
Industrial
0.3 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Germantown Oct 4 1777
1777Revolutionary War
2.8 mi
Battle of Gloucester (NJ) 1777
1777Revolutionary War
4.1 mi
Fort Mercer (Battle of Red Bank)
1777Revolutionary War
4.3 mi
Battle of Barren Hill
1778Revolutionary War
4.5 mi

Questions about this property

When was Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed listed on the National Register?

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 7, 2011.

What type of historic resource is Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed?

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed?

The period of significance for Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Freight Shed is recorded as the industrial era.

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