The Reading News building and its facade were constructed in 1912 for a brand new print publication at 22-24 North Fifth Street. In April 1912 the property, described as a three-story dwelling house, was purchased by local developer Wiliam A. Sharp. It is likely that Sharp was in charge of developing the structure into one fit for a newspaper printing operation, and as a result the beautiful beaux-arts granite facade. A few weeks later Sharp deeded the property to Gilbert Jones of Wilmington Delaware, who in August 1912 filed for a charter with the state of Pennsylvania for the incorporation of “The News Corporation” with two other partners.
The July 12th, 1912 Reading Times reported that Jones had, “resigned as the business manager of the Wilmington Evening Journal to become manager of the Reading News, a new morning daily.”
The very first issue ran on Friday, December 13th, 1912. An announcement of the new publication published in rival Reading Times read,
“The Reading News will be what its name implies, a newspaper in the strictest sense, devoted especially to the interests of Reading and Berks County, but covering the field of general information with a completeness which, it is hoped, will leave nothing to be desired by the discriminating reader.“
In 1914 The News Corporation sold their rights to the name “Reading News” to the Reading Printing Company, which was the parent company of the Reading Times. In the 15 months it existed, the Reading News had gained a circulation of 13,220 at a time when Berks County’s population was around 183,000. This Reading News and Times merger brought readership up to roughly 30,000 local residents, nearly 16% of the county’s total population. Jones went on to manage the merged paper. It was published as the “Reading News-Times” until March 1st, 1923 when it dropped the “News” moniker and again became the Reading Times after another ownership transfer.
After this merger the publication operated out of the Reading Times building at 6th and Walnut streets. Sharp bought back the 22-24 North 5th street property and put up for rent. In 1916 the New Republic Chinese Restaurant and Chalmer’s Motor Car Company operated out of the building. Later, an optometrist and the home of Sharp Construction Company itself.
Given its prime location near Penn Square, there was never a shortage of business prospects to lease the space. The 1954 obituary of Jones describes the Reading News building as being called “The Sharp Building“, and that a barber shop and baked goods store occupied it at that time.
In 1980 the American Bank and Trust Company announced their six million dollar “Project Keystone”, a plan to renovate and expand the Colonial Trust Company building. It included updating all of the buildings between 431-449 Penn Street, and razing the structures north of them on 5th for an extension to the rear of the Colonial building. The bank hired a historical preservation consultant, who with the City’s preservationist found that the already American Bank-owned 431 Penn Street structure had exactly the same three-story by 30 foot dimension as the doomed 22-24 North 5th street property. They made the decision to dismantled the entire facade in 1980 and have it reassembled on the building addressed 431 Penn Street in 1981.
American Bank utilized the structure for their own offices. By 1988 it was home to the Berks County Republican Campaign headquarters. After American turned into Meridian they continued to own the half-block of buildings until 1995 when they sold to Pomeroy’s Associates LP. The properties were sold again 2004 and was occupied for some time by Citizens Bank. In 2013 the city of Reading purchased them. In 2019 they had an environmental site assessment done on all of those structures. The report indicated that there was damage to the roof of the 431 Penn building. In 2022 it was reported pieces of debris fell into the Alvernia University courtyard to its west. This prompted the entire building and courtyard to be gated off by metal construction fencing.
On January 22nd, 2024 the Reading Eagle reported that city council had approved the sale of the five 431-443 Penn Street buildings to a Philadelphia development company called Philly Office Retail. As of now this sale is still in the works, as funding has not yet been fulfilled by the developer. In October 2024 the city proposed a plan to again save the facade of the building while demolishing most of the structure.
In 2025 the situation turned dire as the building’s roof 60 feet behind the facade collapsed in, which prompted the City of Reading to announce it would be demolishing the building, the extent of which was originally unknown but would be determined as the work commenced. The demolition began last week, and it has since been reported that maybe the structure would not have to be completely razed after all and that they are assessing all feasible options for its future.
At the peak of the building cast in granite still reads, “The Reading News“. An ironic twist; the facade that lives on over a century after the company it was built for existed only 15 months.
