National Register of Historic Places
Larkin-Belber Building
Listed federally as Larkin--Belber Building
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
The record
- Listed
- February 27, 2003
- Type
- Building
- Address
- 2200--2218 Arch St., Philadelphia
- County
- Philadelphia
- State
- Pennsylvania
- Period of significance
- 1900 to 1949
- Contributing resources
- 1 building
- Coordinates
- 39.95585, -75.17640
- Reference number
- 03000077
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUniversity Library, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
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 Larkin-Belber Building is a twelve-story Commercial Style industrial building at 2200-2218 Arch St. in Philadelphia, built in 1912-1913.
Why it's listed
It was listed in the National Register in 2003 under criteria A and C, with local significance in architecture, industry and commerce. Its significance runs from 1912, when the Larkin Company bought a former lumberyard site, to Belber's removal in 1947. The nomination names C.J. Heckman, Leroy Berman Rothschild and Ballinger & Perrot as architects.
Physical character
The reinforced concrete frame uses mushroom column and slab construction, with concrete walls, brick trim and triple 1/1 iron sash windows. Rooftop signs advertising the Belber Company went up in 1920, and a neon clock was fixed to the water tank around 1920. Plywood partitions and aluminum ducts were added in the 1960s, and the first floor openings were filled around 1980.
Historical context
The Larkin Company ran the plant from 1913 to 1920, when the building was sold to the Belber Trunk & Bag Company. Belber ran the building until 1947 and moved its headquarters to Woodbury, New Jersey. Robert Hall moved out in 1974, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts used part of the building for artists' studios in the 1970s.