C. Emlen Urban

C. Emlen Urban
Cassius Emlen Urban (February 26, 1863 – May 21, 1939) was a Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based architect. He was the leading architect in Lancaster from the 1890s to the 1920s.
Biography
He was born on February 26, 1863, to Barbara Hebble and Amos S. Urban in Conestoga Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lancaster’s Boys High School in 1880, and then apprenticed as a draftsman at the E. L. Walter architectural firm in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Emlen also worked in the office of Willis G. Hale in Philadelphia. He returned to Lancaster in 1886. He designed many of Lancaster’s notable buildings including the Farmer's Southern Market on Queen Street in 1888, the Watt & Shand Department Store in 1898, and the Y.M.C.A., Harold's Building, Unitarian Church, and St. James Episcopal Church parish House on Duke Street in 1903. His designs embraced architectural styles as diverse as Queen Anne, Beaux-Arts, and Colonial Revival. His work forms a bridge between the Victorian Era and the Modern Age.
C. Emlen Urban also worked in Hershey, Pennsylvania during its developing period. Urban knew Milton Hershey through Lancaster's Hamilton Club. As Hershey developed, Urban designed all of the main buildings constructed between 1903 and 1926, including the Original Hershey Chocolate Company Offices and factory (1903), Cocoa House (1 Chocolate Avenue) (1905), Hershey Trust Company (1 W. Chocolate Avenue) (1914), Community Building and Hershey Theatre (14 E. Chocolate Avenue) (1915, 1928-1932), and Convention Hall (former Hershey Museum building) (1915).
He died on May 21, 1939, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Selected works
Individual listings on the National Register of Historic Places
1888: Farmer's Southern Market, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1891: Charlie Wagner's Cafe, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1904-1905: Stevens High School, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1910: Lancaster Trust Company, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1910-1911: Reilly Brothers and Raub Building, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1910-1911: Hager Building, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1911-1912: Kirk Johnson Building, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1915, 1928-1932: Hershey Community Center Building, Hershey, Pennsylvania
1924-1925: W. W. Griest Building, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Contributing properties to historic districts
Lancaster City Historic District
Ephrata Commercial Historic District
Manheim Borough Historic District
Northeast Lancaster Township Historic District
C. Emlen Urban Awards
The Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County holds an annual meeting and awards banquet in honor of Urban. The C. Emlen Urban Awards are given to individuals and organizations for their work in protecting and preserving historical structures in Lancaster County.
Past Award Recipients:
Central Market
Ephrata National Bank
Excelsior
Fulton Elementary School
Lancaster Ironworks Apartments
Luca Restaurant
Nissley Vineyards
Rock Ford Plantation
Urban Place
Wilbur Chocolate Factory
References
External links
"To Build Strongand Substantial: The Career of Architect C. Emlen Urban," Produced by The City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 2009
1863 births
1939 deaths
Architects from Pennsylvania
Artists from Lancaster, Pennsylvania
People from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania