Building Description SOWEGA - Watermelon Building, Adel Georgia
The SOWEGA Building is a three-story, red-brick building with a roof deck and basement. The building is in a commercial style with construction and materials of high quality. It is located in the small central business district of Adel, a county-seat community, in central South Georgia.
A light buff terra-cotta trim accents the brick exterior, in the belt course, window trim, parapet cups and quoins. The base of the building is finished in a light colored hard marble of unknown origin. Terra-cotta tracery panels accent the trim under the cornice and the balustrade on the false balcony. The most significant exterior ornaments are the green terra-cotta watermelons set within terra-cotta lozenges (which represent the SOWEGA trade mark) between the second and third floor windows.
The ground floor is organized to provide three commercial bays, a foyer, and elevator lobby. The second floor is arranged so that there is a corner office suite on the southeast, three central offices facing east, three small and one larger office facing north; a storage room at the southwest corner and several restrooms. Walls are plastered and painted with painted pine chair rail and picture frame molding. Interior floors in the public areas are terrazzo; service area floors are concrete. The floor on the roof deck is red tile.
The interior is of a simple, practical design without ornamentation except for the chair rail trim on the wall. Interior doors on the first floor were painted; and other doors were stained. Woodwork was stained in a walnut color, shellacked and varnished.
The SOWEGA Building is of concrete reinforced with structural steel.
The building was originally equipped with a coal-burning Webster "Type R" hot water radiator system, ceiling fans for ventilation, and an electric passenger elevator of 2,500 pound capacity.
Major remodeling occurred on the third floor (Del-Cook offices) in the early 1960s. The ground floor was remodeled in 1988 and the longmissing metal awning was replaced at that time.
