Lit Brothers
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Lit Brothers Department Store
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(HABS, 1972-73)
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| Location | Market St. between N. 7th and 8th Sts. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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| Coordinates | 39°57′8″N 75°9′10″W / 39.95222°N 75.15278°WCoordinates: 39°57′8″N 75°9′10″W / 39.95222°N 75.15278°W |
| Built | 1859-1918 |
| Architect | Collins & Autenreith; Simon & Bassett |
| Architectural style | Renaissance revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 79002322 |
| Added to NRHP | May 15, 1979 |
Lit Brothers was a moderately-priced department store based in Philadelphia. Samuel and Jacob Lit opened the first store at North 8th and Market Streets in 1891. Lit's positioned itself well as a more affordable alternate to competitors Strawbridge and Clothier, Wanamaker's, and Gimbels. The store's slogan was "A Great Store in A Great City," and it was noted for its millinery department.
The Lit Brother Store building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is located in the East Center City Commercial Historic District.
In 1891, Rachel P. Lit (1858-1919, later surnamed Weddel, still later Arnold) opened a woman's clothing shop on the corner of Market and N. 8th Streets. With the administration and innovative advertising techniques of her brothers, Colonel Samuel David Lit (1859-1929) and Jacob David Lit (1872-1950), their small store soon became one of the largest retail stores in Philadelphia. From 1895 to 1907, the store continued to expand, with the company taking over the remaining buildings on the block of Market between North 7th and 8th Streets – including the J. M. Maris Dry Goods Store, the Bailey Store and the J. B. Lippincott & Co. Building – and adding new buildings at either end of the block designed to blend in with the existing buildings. With alterations and additions, the Lit Brothers Store became the only full block of Victorian architecture in Philadelphia, composed of 33 buildings constructed between 1859 and 1918, with a common interior. The new buildings and the alterations were designed by Charles M. Autenrieth and Edward Collins.
Although the store on Market Street was often called the "cast-iron building", only two of original building's facades (at 719-721 Market and 714-718 Arch Street) are actually cast iron. The other buildings are brick, faced with marble or granite. The two end buildings are brick and terra-cotta, with galvanized iron trim and octagonal towers. The uniformity of the entire Renaissance Revival-style facade is supported by the use of a classical arch window in all of the buildings, which are painted the same color.
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