Results tagged “John Hartman” from York Town Square

The York County Courthouse stands at the turn of the 20th century, flanked by the Security & Title Co. building, left, and the Marshall House, a hotel, right in this photo from Scott Butcher's York, Postcard History Series. The courthouse is on a short list of the tallest buildings in York. Background posts: Restoring old Futer Bros. building's integrity not hard, but costly, Buildings reveal a bit about York and York County ... 'A smorgasbord of architectural styles'

First, William C. Goodridge built his four-story building in the late 1840s on York's Centre Square.

Actually, it could be counted as five stories with skylight windows.

Then, John Hartman out built him with a six-story building across the square.

Actually, the building had a cupola and a seventh story was reportedly later built. (To see drawings of the two buildings, visit: York landmark Futer Bros. building in new hands)... .

This building in York scraped the sky higher than any other in the mid-1800s. Bottom, John Hartman built a six-story building on the square's southeast corner in 1850. Today, the Hartman Building stands, although three stories shorter. It's known as the Futer Bros. building and has recently been sold. At the bottom of this post, William C. Goodridge's five-story emporium was built on the northwest corner of York's square in 1847. There's some evidence that John Hartman made his building taller to outdo Goodridge, a former-slave-turned-businessman. Background posts: Buildings reveal a bit about York and 'I still have my memories ... of the bustling downtown York business district'. (Lewis Miller drawing courtesy, York County Heritage Trust.)

The Futer Bros. jewelry business reflects the decline of retailing in York's downtown.

The longtime Continental Square business operates a Springettsbury Township store. That suburban store's business has been doing most of the sales. It didn't make good business sense to keep operating two stores.

So the owners closed the downtown store about a year ago and recently sold the building.

As reflected in the following York Daily Record story, the new owners' plans are indefinite, but one goal is to restore the look of the building to its original appearance: ...