Built in 1908, the Reading Pagoda was originally designed as a hotel and restaurant tower for a proposed luxury resort for which William Abbott Witman, Sr. had invested 50,000 dollars. Like many buildings of the time designed to attract tourists, it adopted a form often described as “novelty” or “mimetic,” one that was modeled after, supposedly, a Japanese pagoda. Although an expert on Japanese architecture might argue that the pagoda has many flaws in representing an authentic Japanese architectural detail, its rows of roof tiles, its curved eaves and their raised corners, and especially its location–on a hilltop south of Reading overlooking the city–did succeed in conveying an almost exotic East Asian flavor. Inside the pagoda hangs an 18th-century bell, brought from a monastery in Saitama, Japan that closed in the late 19th century.

Viewed from the hill-side, it has five floors; viewed from the city side, it has seven, as the bottom two floors are actually below the hill-side approach platform, which now serves as a recreational and gathering space for Reading residents on weekends. The top five levels (third to seventh) are each canopied by a tiled roof. Unlike the East Asian convention of topping a pagoda with a pyramidal roof, the Reading Pagoda is topped with a hipped roof. The lower three levels (first through third) are surrounded by an open balustraded balcony, while the fourth through seventh levels are enclosed by walls with windows overlooking the city. Each level of the pagoda has a rectangular floor plan. Curiously, the pagoda was never actually used for its intended purpose as a resort. Plans for the resort were abandoned before they could be realized. After its completion, the pagoda was sold to the city for one dollar.