Built for the National Casket Company
The National Casket Company was formed through a merger of casket makers in the 1880s and took the National Casket Company name in 1890. By the middle of the twentieth century it described itself as the largest casket manufacturer in the world, with factories and branches across the eastern United States.
In the early 1920s the company built this four-story brick and stone building on the corner of Virginia and Park streets as its Buffalo showroom and warehouse. Records differ by a year on the date; most give 1923 or 1924.
Half a century on Virginia Street
The company was still operating from 430 Virginia Street in 1979, around the time the surrounding Allentown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building later served as a local showroom for the Yorktown Casket Company.
Remade as lofts
Kissling Interests bought the building, about 27,000 square feet, in 2006, and converted it to loft apartments with Silvestri Associates as architect. The renovation began in 2008, and the lofts opened as Allentown Lofts.
The conversion kept what made the building worth saving: the brick, the original hardwood floors and the tall factory windows. Ten residences now fill its four stories.
Allentown Factory Lofts today
Formerly known as Allentown Lofts, the building is now Allentown Factory Lofts, with leasing by TM Montante Development. Its one- and two-bedroom lofts run from 1,800 to 2,550 square feet.