Merchants' Exchange Building

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Merchants' Exchange Building is a Greek Revival building at 143 S. Third St. in Philadelphia. Architect William Strickland designed it, and John Struthers built it from 1832 to 1834.

Why it's listed

It was listed in the National Register in 2001 under criterion A, with national-level significance in architecture, and was designated a National Historic Landmark that year.

Physical character

It is rectangular in plan, three stories over a basement and attic, with marble and brick walls on a brick and rubble foundation. Its west front has a colossal Greek pediment over columns in antis, and a semicircular extension on the east carries a two-story Corinthian portico topped by a lantern. The original copper roof was replaced with tin in 1867, and steel framing was introduced with a redesigned lantern by architect Louis Hickman in 1901.

Historical context

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange bought the building in 1901 and used it until 1922; it was then sold to the Hollowell estate for a produce exchange that ran until the National Park Service acquired the property in 1952. It was vacated in 1994; the site had been designated a National Historic Site in 1948, and the building became a contributing structure within Independence National Historical Park in 1956.