A century of leaf, a lifetime of art.
The Lancaster Arts Hotel, in the James Street Improvement District just blocks from Penn Medicine Park and Franklin & Marshall College, was originally constructed in the 1880s — and has joined the ranks of historic hotels of Pennsylvania on the Register of Historic Places.
In September of 1881, Thomas E. Franklin of Lancaster sold the lot at 300 Harrisburg Avenue to Arnold Falk of New York for $1,400. Mr. Falk built a 3½-story double warehouse — 64 feet, 4½ inches wide by 245 feet deep. Three months later he sold half the building to Albert S. Rosenbaum; a party wall divided G. Falk & Bro. from the A.S. Rosenbaum Tobacco Warehouse until the two halves were joined under one deed as the Falk and Rosenbaum Tobacco Warehouse.
Tobacco cured beneath the heavy beams until around 1945. Over the next forty years the building held a wholesale paper-and-twine business, then storage for various companies, including an electronics firm. In 2004, developers acquired the historic building — one of only four still standing from what had been a collection of eight warehouses.
Over the next two years the warehouse became a luxury boutique hotel, designed to celebrate the historic features of the original building: brick walls left bare, original wood floors intact. Artwork — primarily by local artists — was hung throughout, and most of the furniture was crafted by Pennsylvania artisans.
we consider that part of the collection
Falk & Rosenbaum build the double tobacco warehouse — 64 feet wide, 245 feet deep.
The tobacco era ends; paper, twine, and electronics move through the old walls.
Developers rescue one of only four surviving warehouses from the original eight.
Lancaster Arts Hotel opens — brick intact, floors original, walls hung with local art.