Latest Structures Page 73

Scranton Lace Company, Scranton Pennsylvania

Scranton Lace Company, Scranton Pennsylvania

Located in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, the Scranton Lace Company is a historic factory complex that was initially constructed in 1891, and evolved from a small manufacturing plant of five buildings to a significant plant of 32 interrelated buildings by 1946. The complex was one of the largest Nottingham lace manufacturing complexes in the Lackawanna Valley and in Pennsylvania during the mid-twentieth century. The Scranton Lace Company produced quality lace affordable for all Americans through its use of Jardine looms, an ambitious marketing system, and diversified product lines. It is the area's largest surviving example of an early to mid-twentieth-century industrial facility that evolved to adapt to changing trends and market demands. The buildings retain their overall form and industrial character-defining

Colden Mansion Ruins, Montgomery New York

Colden Mansion Ruins, Montgomery New York

The Colden Mansion Ruins consist of a grouping of related archaeological features associated with the former Coldenham estate, established in this region of the Hudson Valley by former New York State Lieutenant Governor Cadwallader Colden in the first quarter of the 18^th Century, and brought to its fullest development by his son and namesake Cadwallader Colden Jr. The architectural centerpiece of the Colden holdings was the Colden Mansion, erected for Colden Jr., the main block representing two phases of construction, c. 1767 and c. 1775-85. The Colden Mansion was a substantial Georgian pile of stone masonry construction, covered by a double-hipped roof, with a characteristic center hall plan and high-style interior woodwork; today it remains but a shell, with only partial

Henry L. Wolfner Memorial Library for the Blind, St. Louis Missouri

Henry L. Wolfner Memorial Library for the Blind, St. Louis Missouri

Originally built as a telephone exchange in 1899 and in 1904 for the Bell Telephone Company (later Southwestern Bell) by the architectural firms of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge and successors Mauran, Russell & Garden, the building became the first home of the Henry L. Wolfner Memorial Library for the Blind. When the library opened in 1938, it was the first of its kind in the United States; there was no other library for the blind situated in its own building with the facilities organized purposely for the convenience of its patrons. The annual report of the Library of Congress for 1940 showed that Wolfner distributed more Braille and talking books than any other library in the United States (after the Library

Maryland Hotel - Mark Twain Hotel, St. Louis Missouri

Maryland Hotel - Mark Twain Hotel, St. Louis Missouri

Designed in 1907 by prominent St. Louis architect A. B. Groves, the Maryland Hotel is one of downtown St. Louis' few remaining historic hotels. The Classical Revival design, featuring outstanding Winkle Terra Cotta Co. ornament, is a noteworthy example of an academic style popular in St. Louis commercial architecture of the early twentieth century. On March 29^th, 1907, a St. Louis Globe-Democrat caption, Important Lease Signed, announced the initial plans for the new hotel. The 99-year land lease from the George D. Hall Real Estate Co. to Rajaw Realty stipulated that Rajaw construct a fireproof building costing not less than $300,000. Conditions of the lease required Rajaw, a subsidiary of Kilgen-Rule Real Estate Co., to begin construction by September 1^st, 1907,

Mercer House, Natchez Mississippi

Mercer House, Natchez Mississippi

The Mercer House has characteristics that are typical of Natchez ca. 1820 and for those which are unique for Natchez of that period. Quite common to the first wave of fine local residences in the Federal style is the elegant detailing of the woodwork and the use of elliptical arches on interior doors and cased openings. Without any existing parallel today, however, is the plan and the resulting massing of the garden end of the building. Although reminiscent of contemporary Georgia coastal houses with projecting bays and round or octagonal-ended rooms, the Mercer House plan is rendered much more sophisticated and livable by the location of a square room at the back center of the building overlooking the garden, rather than

Detroit Cornice and Slate Company Building, Detroit Michigan

Detroit Cornice and Slate Company Building, Detroit Michigan

Frank A. Hesse and James L. Creswell founded the Detroit Cornice & Slate Company about 1888. Their first location was 22 Clinton, and in 1897 the business moved to 733 St. Antoine. The new shop was designed by architect Harry J. Rill. It was continuously occupied by the Detroit Cornice & Slate Company until 1972 and has remained essentially unaltered. The architectural significance of the building is in its galvanized steel facade which faces St. Antoine Street and partly the alley on the south. This painted metal facade was fabricated inside the shop during construction by the Cornice & Slate Company. The use of galvanized steel evolved out of the cast iron tradition. The virtues of cast iron construction to simulate

Third Precinct Police Station - Hunt Street Station, Detroit Michigan

Third Precinct Police Station - Hunt Street Station, Detroit Michigan

The building was designed by Detroit architect Edward C. Van Leyen in 1896. It is a rich example of a Beaux Arts influenced public building of the turn of the century. The essentially rectangular structure was interestingly massed to belie its boxy shape and richly ornamented with terra-cotta and limestone carvings. When it was built, it was the most imposing building on this part of Gratiot Avenue and dwarfed in magnificence the surrounding houses in this modest residential area. The Italian Renaissance derived structure was designed to convey a sense of the dignity and authority of the law enforcement agency it housed. Today, although deteriorated, it is one of the finest institutional buildings of this period remaining in Detroit and a

Wolverine Hotel - Dilworth Hotel, Boyne Michigan

Wolverine Hotel - Dilworth Hotel, Boyne Michigan

Between 1900 and 1910, Boyne City's population grew from 912 to 5,995 residents. This later date was near the peak of the lumbering era; Boyne City was the lumber capital of northwest Michigan from the mid-1880s until the 1920s. Three major lumber mills were located in Boyne City. The largest was the W. H. White Company; its Mil1 No. 1 produced 75,000 board feet per day. Another was the Von Platen mill, which employed 100 men in the mill and the woods and produced 12,000,000 board feet per year. The Boyne City Lumber Company mill employed 225 men in the mill and the woods in the year 1907, producing 22,000,000 board feet that year. Boyne City also grew during this period

Wyandotte Odd Fellows Temple - Masonic Temple, Wyandotte Michigan

Wyandotte Odd Fellows Temple - Masonic Temple, Wyandotte Michigan

The Odd Fellows (IOOF) Temple was built for Wyandotte's second-oldest fraternal organization, established in 1871 by rolling mill employees at the Eureka Iron Works, the industrial operation that dominated the community's early history and economy. This temple is a distinguished example of the buildings built by service organizations such as the Odd Fellows and Masons during their heyday in the early twentieth century. These fraternal societies were important in early communal development because they motivated the citizens and organized their efforts toward civic improvement. Often the service brotherhoods were comprised of working-class men who combined their resources to perform acts of charity and philanthropy that would be beyond any of them as individuals. Built at a time in the early twentieth

American Theater, St. Louis Missouri

American Theater, St. Louis Missouri

Built in 1917 as the Orpheum Theater, a vaudeville house, from plans drawn up by theater specialist G. Albert Lansburgh, the building is one of only two historic theaters surviving in St. Louis' Central Business District. One of the city's most outstanding examples of Beaux-Arts Classicism, the Theater is distinguished by an unusually fine terra cotta facade featuring monumental figural and decorative sculpture and a richly ornamented interior, both of which survive with only minor alterations. By the second decade of the twentieth century, the center of St. Louis retail and office building district had shifted from its nineteenth-century location on the riverfront to a corridor stretching westward from Seventh to Twelfth Streets. As early as 1915, steps were underway to

Frank P. Blair School, St. Louis Missouri

Frank P. Blair School, St. Louis Missouri

The architecture of the three-story Frank P. Blair School, built in three stages from 1882 through 1894, is a vigorous and well-preserved embodiment of the distinctive characteristics of the High Victorian aesthetic applied to school design. The most elaborate public school remaining in St. Louis of those built in the 1880s, its twin stair and entrance towers were a departure from the traditional St. Louis central entrance plan. The octagonal, one-story, free-standing kindergarten built at the rear of the grade school in 1891 (with an 1894 addition) represents a genre which evolved after the establishment of the first successful public school kindergarten program in 1873. No other surviving example could be located in St. Louis. The early history of Blair School

Arlington Plantation House, Natchez Mississippi

Arlington Plantation House, Natchez Mississippi

Arlington is one of four important Federal Style villas which established the basic form for the later antebellum houses of the Natchez area. Of the four, Arlington is unequaled in the integrity of its setting and outbuildings and is unsurpassed in the retention of its mid-nineteenth-century interior decoration. The setting, including several trees listed with the National Live Oak Society and azaleas of a variety known as the Arlington Pink, retains the visual character of a nineteenth-century, landscaped park. The house is finished with elaborate and especially fine exterior trim, similar to the 1806 designs of Asher Benjamin. The interior trim, especially the doorway architraves and the overdoor panels, is marked by a similarly high degree of design and execution. In

Lansdale Silk Hosiery-Interstate Hosiery Mills, Lansdale Pennsylvania

Lansdale Silk Hosiery-Interstate Hosiery Mills, Lansdale Pennsylvania

The Lansdale Silk Hosiery Company constructed the original main knitting building in 1922. Women's full-fashioned silk hosiery was produced at this facility, initially under Lansdale Silk Hosiery Company (until 1929) and after under Interstate Hosiery Mills, Inc. (until c. 1954). Subsequent owners were also involved in the production and finishing of textiles. In April 1922, entrepreneur Herman F. Voss, of New Britain, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, purchased land in Lansdale on which he, along with several associates, erected a factory for the manufacture of full-fashioned silk hosiery. Chartered under the name, Lansdale Silk Hosiery Company, a board of directors was formed, with Voss serving as the company's first president and treasurer. The initial factory was comprised of a 48' x 200' one-story

Harewood - Samuel Washington House, Charles Town West Virginia

Harewood - Samuel Washington House, Charles Town West Virginia

This house was built by the brother of George Washington

While surveying land in the Shenandoah Valley for Lord Fairfax, George Washington became favorably impressed with the prospect of farming virgin land. For this reason, he purchased a tract within the present county of Jefferson, West Virginia. This action may have influenced his elder half-brother Lawrence, for he soon bought large areas close to George's property. In 1752 Lawrence willed 230 acres of his Valley land to Samuel Washington, his half-brother and George's full-brother. On this land Samuel built Harewood, the oldest of eight standing Washington homes in Jefferson County, and the only one presently occupied by family members of the Washington name. The date of construction may be fairly accurately fixed by examination of George Washington's diary. In 1768 George

1907 Dorris Motor Car Company Building, St. Louis Missouri

1907 Dorris Motor Car Company Building, St. Louis Missouri

The Dorris Motor Car Company, created and inspired by the engineering genius of George P. Dorris, made important contributions to the evolution of the American automobile and the early development of the automotive industry in St. Louis. Constructed in 1907, and expanded with a third floor in 1909, this building was the first factory and offices built for the Dorris Motor Car Company and was continuously used by the Dorris Company until it went out of business in 1926. The pioneering efforts of the Dorris Motor Car Company helped establish St. Louis as an early automotive center laying the groundwork for St. Louis' later significance as a location for major assembly plants and automobile parts manufacturing. In 1898, George Preston Dorris

Dorris Motor Car Company, St. Louis Missouri

Dorris Motor Car Company, St. Louis Missouri

In addition to the finely crafted handmade automobiles built from his design between 1898 and 1926, George Preston Dorris is credited with many firsts in St. Louis motor vehicle history and with significant innovations in the advance of the fledgling American automobile industry. Perhaps his most important innovation, the distillator, was first introduced in his 1916 models that were produced at this 1911-12 factory. Though sheathed in brick and dressed with terra cotta by St. Louis architect John L. Wees, the building is the earliest known St. Louis example of mushroom capital/paneled-slab technology, the most advanced reinforced concrete construction of the day. It is also the building with the strongest association to the remarkable career of George P. Dorris. The St.

Chalmers Knitting Mills, Amsterdam New York

Chalmers Knitting Mills, Amsterdam New York

Built in two phases in 1913 and 1916, the Chalmers Knitting Mills property was one of the foremost components of the industrial heritage of Amsterdam, helping the city rank second in the United States in textile production at one time. David W. Chalmers and his partners founded their knitting company in 1901 and soon became nationally famous as the makers of the revolutionary and breathable Porosknit brand underwear. The success of Chalmers Knitting Mils was intimately linked to its proprietary use of porosknit, a revolutionary new process developed by veteran Amsterdam knitter Martin Shaughnessy. The process involved the knitting of a fabric in a tight, stable weave, while simultaneously leaving tiny holes at regular intervals. The result was a light, very

S.H. Kress and Co. Building, Daytona Beach Florida

S.H. Kress and Co. Building, Daytona Beach Florida

The S.H. Kress & Co. Building is an outstanding example of commercial Art Deco architecture in Daytona Beach and as one of the finest high-style buildings of any description in the city. At the time of its opening in October 1932, the Daytona Beach store of S.H. Kress and Co. was described in the local newspaper as one of the finest of its kind in all the south. Designed by the Kress Company's in-house architect, Edward F. Sibbert, the store was constructed by G.A. Miller, Inc., a Tampa contractor. As one of more than 200 stores that the Kress chain operated nationwide by 1935, the Daytona Beach store illustrates the company's belief in presenting an up-to-date public image as well as

Sherburne Covered Suspension Bridge, Sherburne Kentucky

Sherburne Covered Suspension Bridge, Sherburne Kentucky

Sherburne apparently was a bustling community during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Two doctors and five grocers were on the Fleming County side, there was horse trading every Saturday, and there was also the activity of the mill. Though it is not known who hired Isaac Kisker to construct the Sherburne bridge, it is known that the Fant family operated the first toll booth. A bridge over the Licking River proved advantageous for mill operations on the Fleming County side; in fact, the toll was free if one were going to the mill. Otherwise, the toll was a dime with a team of horses. Changes in the river bed and technology brought Sherburne to its present sleepy state. At

North Scranton Junior High School, Scranton Pennsylvania

North Scranton Junior High School, Scranton Pennsylvania

The North Scranton Junior High School was built in 1922-24 and is located at the intersection of North Main Avenue and Green Ridge Street in the Scranton, Pennsylvania neighborhood is locally known as North Scranton. The development of the public education system in the United States began in the late eighteenth century as state and Federal legislators acknowledged the need for a government-supported system of instruction for all citizens. Organized efforts to establish a public school system in Scranton began in the 1770s, but the practice was not recognized until the early nineteenth century. By 1857, the borough had a one-room schoolhouses strategically located in each of Scranton's five neighborhoods; by 1858, the public school system expanded to include the Central

Book Title Abandoned Places: A Photographic Exploration of More Than 100 Worlds We Have Left Behind

Abandoned Places: A Photographic Exploration of More Than 100 Worlds We Have Left Behind

Book Title Abandoned Malls of America: Crumbling Commerce Left Behind

Abandoned Malls of America: Crumbling Commerce Left Behind

Book Title Abandoned Palaces (Abandoned Places)

Abandoned Palaces (Abandoned Places)

Book Title Lost Places: Images of Bygone America

Lost Places: Images of Bygone America

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