Former SH Kress 5 and Dime Store in Blytheville AR

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The Kress chain of dime stores arrived in Blytheville in 1923. In 1936 the company purchased two buildings on Main Street and had them razed as both were in disrepair. These properties were sold to the Kress Company by trustees for the Glenn Estate and by J. T. Alford. Demolition of these buildings began on February 8^th, 1938. Joe P. Randolph of the Bird Construction Company was in charge of the demolition, while W. F. Holmes represented the Kress Architectural Department. One of the demolished buildings, the 1902 Blytheville Hotel, was purchased for $20,000. The bricks from this structure were given to the City of Blytheville for use in street repair. The other demolished building, which housed the OK Barber Shop, was built in 1911. The current Kress Building was erected on the site of these two buildings.

On January 26^th, 1938, E. V. Bird Construction Company of Fayetteville, Arkansas, was awarded the contract to erect a building to house the new Kress store. With an estimated construction cost of $100,000.00, the building was an ambitious project during the Depression. When construction began on the Kress Building in February 1938, it was one of the few buildings in Blytheville's downtown area in which steel I-beams were used in masonry construction. Opening of the new Kress Five and Dime was a much-anticipated event in the community as the new store was the first completely air-conditioned retail store in Blytheville. The original air conditioning equipment is still in place in the "penthouse" structure on the roof of the building.

Situated in the center of downtown Blytheville, the Kress Building provides an aesthetic anchor for the surrounding historic commercial district. Complementing the nearby Art Moderne-style Greyhound Bus Station, the Kress Building offers its own interpretation of the Art Deco style.

Building Description

Located at 210 West Main Street in Blytheville, the Kress Building is a two-and-a-half-story, Art Deco-style, brick commercial building constructed in 1938. The steel I-beam reinforced structure rests upon a continuous concrete foundation with a partial basement and is covered by a flat roof behind a parapet. Virtually unaltered since construction, the Kress Building is in good condition.

Located at 210 West Main Street in Blytheville, the Kress Building is an Art Deco-style, brick commercial building constructed in 1938 at an estimated cost of $100,000. The 70' X 140' building is a full two stories in height, with an additional partial third story housing the original heating and air conditioning systems and the mechanical system for the still-functioning elevator. The heat and air systems in this building were the most modern available at the time of construction. A partial basement housing boilers and an access to the elevator shaft covers approximately ten percent of the total area of the first floor.

The building is constructed of steel I-beams with a cast-concrete foundation. The front, or southern, facade is faced with cream-colored brick above glazed terra cotta. The terra cotta is green at bulkhead level; however, on the sides and above the windows (including the area encompassing the S.H. Kress & Co. sign), the terra cotta is peach-colored. Window trim is bronze. Four plate-glass windows measure 114" X 130". There are also four curved glass windows, two at each entrance.

Glazed terra cotta was used extensively from the bulkhead level upward to the level of the ceiling of the first floor. Above the terra cotta on the second level, the facade is cream-colored brick. Six two-over-two double-hung windows at the second-story level are surrounded by decorative ivory terra cotta which features a fluted pattern at the sides and a stylized shell form at the top of each window unit. The parapet at the top of the commercial facade is also of ivory terra cotta and consists of simple vertical geometric bands. A larger area projects up in the center of the parapet and features raised letters with the name "Kress" in gold.

An operable awning has not been used in recent years. A photograph taken in 1968 or 1969 shows the awning extended. The mechanical portion of the awning appears to be intact, but the canvas is virtually nonexistent. Two wooden strips have been attached to the peach terra cotta, above and below the Kress sign. These were probably installed in 1985 to accommodate a sign for Dollar General Store, which occupied the building in the late 1980s.

The side elevations consist of party walls that are shared with adjacent one-story buildings; however, some of the common red brick wall is visible on the second story.

The building appears to have undergone little or no alteration from its original form. A photograph taken in 1938 and a copy of a photograph of the original architect's drawing (from a 1938 newspaper) show the building to be virtually unchanged.

Occupying the east twenty feet of Lot Nine and all of Lot Ten in Block 4 of the Blythe Addition to the City of Blytheville, the Kress Building was recently donated to Main Street Blytheville by Kendall Berry, a local businessman. The building will become the home of the Blytheville Heritage Museum as well as the Main Street Blytheville Office.

View from southwest (1985)