Thomas A. Willson and Co.

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

Thomas A. Willson and Co. is an industrial complex of five contributing buildings at 201 Washington St. in Reading, Berks County, listed in the National Register in 2006. The buildings were built from 1871 to about 1946 in the Modern Movement's Moderne style, by Muhlenberg Bros. Architects.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria A and C, with local-level significance in industry and architecture. Its period of significance runs from 1871, the year the company was founded, to 1955.

Physical character

The five-story main building has red brick walls on a concrete foundation and an asphalt roof. Other buildings show exposed brick walls, sheet metal gable roofs with parapets, a roof monitor, timber and steel framing, open beam ceilings, unfinished wood floors, and arched double hung windows, linked by an enclosed walkway over Thorn Street. In 1910 much of the 1871 building was removed for a larger one, and in 1946 Building 1's facade was renovated to match Building 2.

Historical context

T. A. Willson & Co. Spectacle Manufacturers was founded in 1871; Thomas A. Willson won a Franklin Institute medal in 1876. It began making safety goggles in 1908. The plant made safety equipment from 1946 to 2002, when Dalloz Safety closed the Reading plant.