The Building
The National Transit Building was built in 1890 across from the bustling Oil exchange in Oil City, Pennsylvania, at a cost of $90,000. It was designed by Fredonia, New York architects Curtis and Archer.
The Building housed John D. Rockefeller’s subsidiaries of Standard Oil Company, one of the most powerful corporations of the time. It was the first building in the nation to house companies which transported oil by pipeline. The building includes pneumatic messenger tubes, vaults on all floors, oak-paneling, Civil War cannon ball doorknobs, newel posts, marble floors, a circular wrought-iron fire escape and wrought-iron and brass fixtures. The stone for the four-story, red-brick building’s foundation was taken from the Humboldt Refining company in Plumer. The local architect, Horace B. Robinson carved his initials with a diamond ring in an existing second floor window.
In 1896, the yellow-bricked Annex topped by ornate terra-cotta friezes was built next door. It contains a water-operated wrought-iron elevator modeled after the elevator in the Eiffel Tower in Paris. An archway connecting the two buildings was erected in 1899.
In 1978, the National Transit Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Pennsylvania Inventory of Historic Places. In September 1994, the National Transit Building was closed and the few remaining tenants asked to vacate. The building was sold to the Institute for Civic Renewal, a nonprofit agency, in June 1995. In December 1998, the Building was sold to the Oil City Civic Center, Inc.
Back to top
The Architect
Architect, Enoch A. Curtis was born in Busti, Chatauqua County, New York in 1831. He first attended a log cabin school and at 17 graduated from the Jamestown Academy.
He had no formal training but became a carpenter and joiner, studying architecture only as he could find the scarce textbooks available.
Injured in combat in the Civil War, he was cited for gallantry and received an honorable discharge.
After engaging briefly in the hardware business, he resumed his pursuit of architecture. The list of buildings attributed to him is long, including Christ Episcopal Church in Oil City. Others in the area are at least eight in Titusville, including the J.L. McKinney residence, now the main building of the University of Pittsburgh’s Titusville campus, and two Buildings in Pleasantville. He also designed the Bradford City Hall.
The former J.L. McKinney Residence, designed by Enoch A. Curtis, is now the centerpiece of the Pitt Titusville campus. Now known as McKinney Hall, the former home houses offices and classrooms. Many of the architectural details remain intact, however, extensive renovations to make the rooms suitable for classrooms have destroyed some of the historical integrity of this building. The original residence included a swimming pool and several outbuildings, the pool has been removed and several of the outbuildings have been remodeled to better suit the needs of the campus. The original iron framed large pane windows remain in the building, and provide an excellent view of the campus and Titusville. The house also has several bow windows with bench seats, which are popular during literature classes.
Curtis was a prominent citizen in Fredonia and elsewhere in New York state. He became president of the Fredonia governing board, helped establish the town water system, and served on the commission to erect the monument in Buffalo to assassinated President McKinley.
Curtis dies on October 4, 1907, and is buried in Fredonia.
Excerpted From: A History of Christ Episcopal Church; Oil City Pennsylvania by Margaret D. Reid.
McKinney Hall photo courtesy of University of Pittsburgh Titusville. McKinney Hall commentary courtesy of Jessica Payne.
Back to top
History of Construction and Use
A. Historical Background
The National Transit Building was constructed in 1890 to house The National Transit Company. National Transit itself composed of numerous subsidiaries of the Standard Oil Trust, all of which were engaged in the oil pipeline transmission business. The building was designed by the Fredonia, New York firm of Curtis and Archer in the late nineteenth century commercial style. The design created offices which were easily accessible from a large central stair and central hall on each floor. Large paired double-hung windows provided ample natural light to the offices and the building was made of completely non-combustible construction. The building has been called a “business man’s center” providing large sized offices, telegraph rooms, and support spaces on each floor. The oil transit business further required the handling of sizeable amounts of money and securities, so large vaults were provided on each floor.
By 1896 additional space was needed and adjoining land on Seneca Street was acquired for the construction of the Annex building. The Annex was executed in yellow brick in a similar style to the main building but in a grander manner on the exterior with an elaborate white terra cotta frieze and cornice. Similar to the main building, the Annex contains a large open metal enclosure. The floor plans are somewhat more utilitarian, however, with a small hall/lobby at each floor at the stair area and the rest of the floor devoted to “office suites,” a larger one towards the river and a smaller one toward Seneca Street that are subdivided as required for each use. The building contains large vaults occupying almost 25% of each floor area along the north side of the building.
Major changes to the buildings included the construction of the “bridge” linking the two buildings at each upper floor in 1889 and the addition of an elevator within the staircase of the main building c.1950. The lower level entrances and storefronts were likely added in the 1900-1920 time period when the first commercial uses began to occupy this level. An 1898 view shows paired double-hung windows at all locations indicating office use at this level with the only building entry being on Seneca Street.
Beginning in the 1950’s, National Transit offices bean to contract and the vacant space was leased to a variety of tenants including lawyers, real estate offices, and charitable associations. The lower floor was entirely occupied by retail establishments by this time.
By the 1970s there were no National Transit Offices in the building and the buildings were occupied by a variety of tenants. This process culminated in 1978 when one of the tenants, Bech, Breene, and Stanley purchased the buildings and operated them as commercial office buildings. The majority of dropped ceilings and newer partition walls throughout the structure appear to date from the 1970-1985 period.
Mellon Bank made major revisions to the fourth floor in the early 1980’s. The chief architectural impact was the lowering of the fourth floor ceiling in the main building and a self-contained heating/cooling system for the fourth floor.
On a visit to Oil City in 1995, Ralph Nader saw the building in a state of decline. The Institute for Civic Renewal, Inc. was formed to purchase the building, make needed improvements, and use the building as shared space for social and cultural improvements.
Concurrent with the study the building was turned over, in December 1998, to a non-profit organization, Oil City Civic Center, whose mission is to operate the building as a home for Oil City Area arts, cultural, and social service organizations.
A listing of owners and representative tenants is provided in the following section:
B. History of ownership and Tenancy
| Purchase Date | Owner | Amount | Representative Tenants
(dates correspond with |
| 1889(Main) | National Transit Company | $10,000 (Land) |
National Transit Company and related companies |
| 1896(Annex) | National Transit Company | $8,000 (Land) |
National Transit Company and related companies Orah Nichol’s Barber Shop (1914) Milady’s Art Goods Shop(1925) John Porterfield Typewriters(1925) Grove Hill Cemetery Association(1925) State Automobile Insurance(1954) Avery’s Restaurant(1954) Children’s Aid Society(1954) Western Union(1959) |
| 1957 | Petroleum Realty Company | $300,000 | |
| 1978 | Beck, Breene, and Stanley | $145,700 | Valley Camp Coal(1980) Hileman and Woods(1980)
Mellon Bank(1987) |
| 1993 | Transit Building, Inc. (via Family Service and Children’s Aid Society-December 1993) |
$1 | |
| 1996 | Institute for Civic Renewal | $38,000 | |
| 1998 | Oil City Civic Center | $10 |
C. Period of Signifigance
In 1899 with the construction of the “bridge” between the National Transit Building and its Annex the building complex took on its present form. By 1925 the conversion of the lower level to retail use was completed with the addition of storefronts, and a supplemental Center Street entry. Until well into the middle of the Twentieth Century no signifigant further charges were made in the National Transit structures. We propose the period of 1899 to 1950 as the period of signidicance for the building.
With the fading of importance of the oil pipeline companies and around 1950 the introduction of new tenants into the building the first alterations to the architectectural character of the building began to appear. These are visible most typically in newer partitions that were created to subdivide offices or to capture part of the hall for private use, the addition of an elevator in the well of the Transit Building stair, and the fire enclosure of the Transit Building Stair Tower. For a building of this age these alterations are remarkably mild in their impact of historic character of the building, however, they do impact the period of significance.
The recommendations provided later in this report respect the Period of Significance described above.
Back to top