OVERFLOWING WITH HISTORY
THE HISTORY OF URBAN PLACE
Home of Cork Factory Hotel and Cork & Cap
If 19th century brick walls and wood ceilings could talk, they would speak a familiar narrative. Enterprise & industry. American vision. An honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. The buildings that make up Cork Factory Hotel once housed the historic Armstrong Cork and Kerr Glass companies. Today, the hotel preserves and honors that history. And it is not just in the architecture, it’s the attitude: honest, authentic and welcoming.
BEFORE & AFTER
BUILDING ON
THE PAST
1865: Construction of Urban Place begins for Lancaster Saw, Bark, Spoke & Bending Mill.
1875: Lancaster Cork Company begins production at Urban Place.
1895: Armstrong Cork Company begins production at Urban Place with the purchase of Lancaster Cork Company and other local cork companies.
1960s: Kerr Glass Manufacturing purchases Urban Place to manufacture bottles & caps.
2004: The Baldwins, a Lancaster County family, purchase Urban Place and revive the site to a hip mixed-use community.
2007: Urban Place welcomes their first residential and commercial tenants.
2009: Cork Factory Hotel and Cork & Cap Restaurant open in Urban Place.
Urban Place Today
Cork is impermeable; watertight; solid; and a perfect synonym for the long tradition Urban Place exemplifies in Lancaster. Yet one thing still flows easily through it, and in great quantity: History. Once home to Lancaster Cork Works, a 19th century cork factory, the buildings of Urban Place have been transformed into a modern 200,000 square foot community primed for staying, gathering, dining, working, shopping, and living.
Cork is also elastic, boasting diverse and valuable uses. So, too, is Urban Place, creatively reused to offer luxury apartments; modern retail and commercial outlets; a restaurant; event spaces; and Cork Factory Hotel.
But most of all cork is buoyant. The dynamic mixed-use community of Urban Place not only rests atop the industrial giants who helped build Lancaster, but also rises above the typical and is a benchmark in historic Downtown Lancaster.
As a member of Historic Hotels of America, Cork Factory Hotel is a member of a legendary hospitality family, famous for delivering unmatched quality and distinctive services within a historical setting.