The Yorktowne Hotel, in the heart of downtown York at 48 E. Market Street, has been a local and regional landmark for almost a century. Central to it’s riches to rags to riches story – in addition to its enduring community legacy – are the historic tax credits that played a big part in it’s 21st century renaissance.
Author: smassey (Page 1 of 2)

Learning about Historic Tax Credits with Homestead’s Bishop Boyle High
The Bishop Boyle High School is another preservation success story for Homestead, a small Pennsylvania borough on the south side of the Monongahela River between Pittsburgh and Braddock.
Following the Homestead Masonic Hall a few years ago, Bishop Boyle High School in the Homestead Historic District has also been rehabilitated into housing with the help of the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Tax Credit and federal Historic Tax Credit programs.
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Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit At Work: SFY2021-2022 Update
The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (PA DCED) recently announced that it has awarded $5 million in Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Tax Credits (PA HPTC) to 25 projects across the commonwealth through the FY 2021-2022 PA HPTC Allocation. The next round will open on October 1.
Continue readingThe New Century Guild building, located at 1307 Locust Street in Philadelphia, PA, is an Italianate brick rowhouse constructed in 1851 as a private residence. It remained a private residence until 1906, when the New Century Guild, one of the earliest and most successful organizations devoted to supporting women in the labor force, acquired the building for its headquarters.
Historic tax credits were an important part of bringing the 1906 New Century Guild, an important organization in the history of women, a new life in the 21st century.
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Rehabilitating Pittsburgh’s “First” Skyscraper with Historic Tax Credits
The Arrott Building, located at 401 Wood Street in Pittsburgh, PA, was designed by prominent Pittsburgh architect, Frederick J. Osterling in 1902 and is one of Pittsburgh’s first skyscrapers.
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The Gamble on this Mill Paid Off
The Gamble Mill at 160 Dunlap Street in Bellefonte, Centre County, PA was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1975, as one of the only remaining grain mills in the county and one with surviving original 18th and 19th century spaces and materials.
As the National Register designation makes the building eligible for the Federal and State Historic Tax Credit programs, the current owners developed a reuse plan to save and rehabilitate the historic Gamble Mill.
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Historic Tax Credits + Artists + Braddock = Preservation Success
There are great examples throughout Pennsylvania – and the country – of historic buildings being repurposed to support, house, and celebrate local and regional arts communities. Two specifically come to mind in Pennsylvania, the GoggleWorks in Reading, Berks County and the Walk In Art Center in Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill County. The Ohringer Artist Residences in the former Ohringer Home Furniture store 640 Braddock Avenue in Braddock, Allegheny County can now be added to that list.
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Rehabilitating Wilkes-Barre’s Memorial Presbyterian Church
Rehabilitating a religious property, like a church, using historic tax credits can be very challenging because it is often difficult to match the building’s desired new use with the historic floor plan and character-defining spaces. Design professionals and building owners have to negotiate a difficult balance between preserving a church’s large, open sanctuaries with the need for income-producing spaces like apartments or multi-tenant office spaces.
The rehabilitation of Wilkes-Barre’s Memorial Presbyterian Church is a good example of how to apply the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, which are the guiding principles for historic tax credit projects, to church buildings.
Continue readingHomestead’s Masonic Hall is an imposing – and impressive – stone building at the corner of E. 9th Avenue and McClure Street in Homestead, Allegheny County. This early 20th century property anchors the National Register-listed Homestead Historic District and is a local landmark.
With the help of state and federal historic tax credits, the formerly vacant and deteriorating Masonic Hall now provides unique housing and is once again contributes to the vibrant Homestead community.
Continue readingWith the help of the federal and state historic tax credits, a local team gives the 1847 Canal Houses 1 & 2 in Hollidaysburg, Blair County a third lease on life as retail and commercial space in the borough’s historic downtown.
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