Penrose Wolf 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 Penrose Wolf Building is a Late Victorian building at 450 Main St. in Rockwood, Somerset County, built in 1898 with a brick addition in 1905.

Why it's listed

It was listed in 2002 under criteria A and C, with local significance in commerce, entertainment/recreation and architecture. Its period of significance runs from 1898 to 1951, reflecting the building's construction beginning in 1898.

Physical character

Weatherboarded wood walls sit on a stone foundation, with brick walls from the 1905 addition, under a metal roof with corrugated steel sections. A gambrel roof and storefront cornice with wood brackets and rosettes remain outside, while chestnut paneling, a Palladian window and six thirty-foot-tall grain hoppers survive inside from its feed-store years. In 1999, rehabilitation added ramps and removable partitions, and 2001 work made the elevator stationary and added attic ductwork.

Historical context

The building opened in 1898 as a lumberyard, office and opera house. Penrose Wolf came to Rockwood in 1875; an advertisement for his business appeared in 1906, and he died in 1921. It served as a feed store from 1898 to 1992, with Friedline Feed Store running it from 1951 to 1992, then stood vacant until 1999 when it was purchased and rehabilitation began.