40 East Grant Street Lancaster, PA
This building was constructed in 1891 as home to Charlie Wagner's Cafe. It was designed by Lancaster’s most important architect, C. Emlen Urban.
An 1891 newspaper described Charlie Wagner’s Cafe as “the handsomest bar room in the city...finer than many in larger cities. Inside everything is finished in the finest style.” The cafe's oyster bar had a marble top. The cafe bar was of solid mahogany and the furniture was natural cherry. The walls were “richly plastered in plastico and lincrusta.” “Fine engravings adorn the wall.”
The cafe's proprietor, Charlie Wagner, previously had worked with the Stevens House. In the early 1900s he lived in the neighborhood that later became today’s Old Town Lancaster. His home there was at 121 South Duke St.
The cafe is listed with the National Register of Historic Places. It is located beside the courthouse at 40 East Grant Street, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.