Restored 130 year old Pharmacy Building in TX
Harris Drug Store, San Angelo Texas
The Harris Drug Store (1891) at 114 South Chadbourne in San Angelo, was built to house the pharmacy of brothers R.E. and J.W. Harris and Served as a locally-owned drug store for over a century. This building is the only remaining local example of original work combining an iron storefront, native stonework, and metal cornice.
In 1891, San Angelo was a growing and prosperous community. It had become the county seat after the devastating Ben Ficklin flood destroyed the previous county seat in 1882. The railroad arrived in 1888, establishing San Angelo as a transportation center. The frontier was declared safe from Indian raids and Ft. Concho was decommissioned in 1889. These events led to the rapid commercial development of the area. The Harris brothers had a small wood-frame pharmacy on Concho (Twohig?) Avenue that merged with City Pharmacy in August 1888. The brothers prospered as San Angelo prospered, so they decided in 1889 to construct a new building to house their pharmacy. Because the railroad depot was on the south end of Chadbourne Street, this street was developing as the main commercial artery in the city.
On January 1st, 1890, R.E. and J.W. Harris bought the North 4 of lot 20, Block 7, San Angelo Addition (114 South Chadbourne) with 25 feet facing Chadbourne Street. They paid Thomas Thrasher $800. On September 5th, 1890, the Harris brothers signed a contract for the construction of the new building. Present for the signing were the contractors for the new building: stonemasons John and Anton Willeke, carpenter Joe S. Chance, and the general contractor Z.D. Gafford. The new building was to be two-story, 25 feet wide and 100 feet long , include a basement, be made of cut native stone, and have an iron storefront with plate glass windows on the first floor. Originally scheduled for completion in December 1890, bad weather and a building line dispute delayed construction. The Harris brothers finally accepted the building on April 4th, 1891. The total cost of the structure was $5856, with $3375 going to the Willeke brothers and $2481 to Joe Chance. When completed, this new building was described in the April 11th, 1891 edition of the San Angelo Standard as "a decided credit to the city and an ornament to Chadbourne Street."
114 South Chadbourne was a pharmacy for the next 105 years. In 1900, R.E. Harris was no longer with the business and the drug store became the John W. Harris & Co. Doctors leased the second floor of the building for offices. John W. Harris changed the name of his store again in 1908 to The Owl Drug Store. The 1908 Tom Green County tax records show $3500 of merchandise on hand for the Owl Drug Store. The year 1909 was the last year J.W. Harris took an active part in the business that continued under his ownership as the Owl Drug Store with various managers until 1914. The Owl Drug Store of 1908 probably differed little from this San Angelo Standard write-up that appeared on January 27th, 1906:
One patron remembered receiving a cardboard owl glued to a cockle burr that the store employees stuck on her coat. In 1914, Mr. Harris sold the business to Holman and Compton, owners of Concho Drug Store. They operated the James Drug Store with W.L. James as the proprietor. John W. Harris maintained ownership of the building. About 1922, they dropped the James Drug Store name and the Concho Drug Store moved its headquarters and namesake store to the Harris building at 114 South Chadbourne. According to oral history, the upstairs rear portion of the building was used as a speakeasy during prohibition. Indeed, the door to this area had a peephole with a sliding cover. After the Santa Rita discovery well opened up the west Texas oil fields in 1923, a period of rapid growth in San Angelo occurred. About 1926 an addition was built on the rear of the building, thus enlarging the building by over 50%.
In 1934, W. C. Perkins opened Perkins Drug-The Rexall Store in the Harris building, ending 20 years of Concho Drug Store dominion. About 1972, Cecil Westerman bought the property and it was the Westerman Drug Store until December 1996.
The contractors were master stone masons John and Anton Willeke. They owned a local quarry and were the premier stone masons in early San Angelo. Extant examples of their work are their homes and the Guaranty State Bank Building. The masonry on the Harris Drug Store is exceptional. The native stone is masterfully crafted with many pieces hewn by hand. The stone is highlighted because of the building's unique position flanked by an alley. This is the largest exposed-cut native stone wall surviving in San Angelo.
In the construction contract, Z.D. Gafford is listed as the architect. Advertisements in early newspapers listed Z.D. Gafford as "contractor and builder." It was a common practice at the time to hire a general contractor who would hire the architect. The architect was probably Oscar Ruffini. While the specifications are not in his records preserved at Ft. Concho, he did claim to have designed the building. The January 20th, 1957 edition of the Standard Times was published when Oscar Ruffini died and had an article about his "mark on San Angelo". It stated that "The accompanying map-sketch, at left, was prepared from Mr. Ruffini's own notes and memory (which was excellent)." This map lists 114 South Chadbourne as one of the buildings he designed. In addition, Z.D. Gafford was awarded the construction contract for the Sutton County courthouse about the time the Harris Drug project was ending. Oscar Ruffini was unquestionably the architect for that building. It is therefore most likely that Oscar Ruffini designed the Harris Drug Store, but it cannot be unquestionably proven.
Oscar Ruffini is an important architect in the history of Texas. In 1883, Oscar Ruffini and his brother designed the first building on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin (Old Main). Oscar moved to San Angelo in 1884 to supervise the construction of the courthouse and decided to stay until his death in 1957. He designed at least 38 buildings in the downtown area, but only about half survive. He also designed several county courthouses, including the Sutton County Courthouse. This building is one of the best-surviving examples of his early work on commercial structures.
The original building owner, John Walter Harris was born in Missouri on November 6th, 1856. He was the son of George T. and Charlotte A. Harris. He came to San Angelo about 1886 and was a member of the first fire department. He also served for a time as a deputy sheriff.
In retirement, John W. Harris ranched sheep and cattle on 6 ½ sections of land just north of old San Angelo, encompassing much of what is now Lake View addition. He also served as vice president of West Texas Cold Storage and Ice Company. He lived his final years at 27 North Oakes Street, site of the First Christian Church today.
As a member of the First Baptist Church, John W. Harris served on the building committee for the new church dedicated on February 23rd, 1908, and used until 1947. His name appeared on the cornerstone of the building as a trustee of the church. His wife, the former Annie Emerson, was the daughter of the founder and first president of Howard Payne College, Andrew Jackson Emerson. Following her death in 1923 and dedicated to her memory, John W. Harris donated enough funds to the San Angelo Hospital to pay for the first floor and furnishings of a new four-story structure. San Angelo Hospital later became the present-day Shannon Hospital.
John W. Harris, pioneer druggist, rancher, father, deacon, and philanthropist, saw the tiny settlement of San Angelo grow into a modern city in the span of a lifetime, contributing his part to that growth. He died August 24th, 1928, at the age of 72 and is buried in Fairmount Cemetery.
Less is known about RE Harris. He arrived in San Angelo before his brother and left in the early part of the century. He moved to an area outside El Paso called Alameda.
In 1906, the San Angelo Standard described Harris Drug as "essentially the headquarters for the medical fraternity of the city." When the building opened, it housed the offices of Dr. Bryan, a dentist and Dr. F.B.Magruder. Dr. Magruder received his medical degree on February 21st, 1871 in Baltimore, Maryland, and arrived in San Angelo in May 1890. He was one of the first physicians in San Angelo.
The building itself is a typical example of a premier commercial structure of the 1890s. The iron storefront was popular throughout the country from about 1850 to 1900, but few examples remain in San Angelo. The metal cornice was typical, but only 3 originals remain in San Angelo, none of which are associated with an original iron storefront.
The building has survived remarkably intact. Most of the facade modifications were placed over the early facade, thereby leaving it virtually intact. The restoration performed in 1998 utilized photographs made before 1899. Careful observation during the demolition of the modifications added to the owner's knowledge of details that can not be seen on black and white photographs, such as color, design elements in the shadows, and non-photographed elevations.
The building has survived in a grouping of 3 buildings all built before 1900. These 3 buildings stand out not only because of their similar age and architecture, but because they are flanked by an alley and a parking lot which serve to separate them visually from the neighboring buildings. This allows them to stand out and provides significant street appeal. The Harris Drug Store has a total of 115 linear feet of exposed cut native sandstone walls. Despite some poor efforts at tuckpointing in the past, the stonework is in excellent condition. Only a few stones are significantly deteriorated. Many of the stones were fine hewn by hand.
The details of the inset entry are not available because of shadowing on the original photographs. Their present design is based on a study of other doors and windows in the building. The dimensions of the inset are accurate.
The wood panels below the front display windows were modified very early in the building's history. They were lowered 18 inches from their original height, but painted in the original green. Since this was such an early modification and has survived intact, it was retained. The glass in the lower part of the front display windows is probably the original glass placed after the wood panels were shortened. The edges were clipped, not cut.
The freight doors opening into the alley were reconstructed at their original size, with upper panels of glass. This design is similar to that utilized for the front doors, but there is no direct evidence as to whether the panels were glass or wood. Glass was selected to bring more light into this part of the building.
The original beaded wood ceiling was covered with pressed metal tile at about the time the building was electrified. This allowed the ceiling to only be partially repaired after running wires through the ceiling joists. This metal ceiling has attained significance of its own and has been retained.
The original green of the facade was matched as closely as feasible. The north (alley side) display window, freight door, and front facade were all originally painted forest green. The interior of the upstairs doors and windows were also green, as were the interior and the exterior of the rear downstairs doors and windows. There was no remaining paint on the exterior of the upstairs windows that could be proven to be original. There was only one color of beige and it is unlikely the original paint survived 107 years on such an exposed area. The evidence from the downstairs windows (which became interior windows in 1926) and the interior of the upstairs windows suggest they were green. On the other hand, the original photographs suggest that a lighter color (possibly a stone-colored beige) was original. The interior of the alley display window may have been varnished, but this was not conclusively determined. For the restoration, the wood was in too poor of a condition to varnish, so it was painted.
The original floor was 1-inch hardwood boards. Downstairs this floor was in very poor condition and most of the nails had rusted out. Several old fires had damaged it. Three later floors were placed over the original. The floor joists were placed on 18-inch centers which would be unsafe if the original floor were restored; therefore, it was replaced with plywood sub-flooring.
The rear of the 1891 building originally had 2 windows flanking a door, but the north side window was modified into a doorway and this change was left in place. The original center doorway had been modified to remove the header arch, but this arch was restored with many of the original materials to its original state. The door itself was significantly modified and not retained. It had originally looked like the upstairs alley access door, but had been clad in heavy sheet metal.
Upstairs, the original beaded wood ceiling and hardwood floor remained. The original double-hung windows were restored as closely as possible to their original state. All still functioned and many panes were original. The 1999 fire destroyed the entire roof and ceiling complex, heavily damaged the floor and plaster walls, destroyed all the glass and the tops of most of the windows. The windows have been reconstructed. HVAC ducts run in the attic.
The warehouse portion of the building was modified by changing out the wire glass panes in the windows for frosted glass downstairs. The sliding freight door was removed and an inset doorway placed. The large opening was reduced with an additional wall of salvaged period brick that was recessed to show that this is an addition. The upstairs windows were replaced with aluminum windows to reduce maintenance because of the low power lines outside the windows. The 1999 fire caused only water damage downstairs and to the primary elevation. These elements have already been restored.
Despite being damaged by the 1999 fire, the owner has taken care to restore the building as closely as possible, and the building retains a high degree of integrity, as revealed through a comparison of photos (1890s) and (2000, post-restoration). Several restoration projects are now complete, including tuckpointing and repair of damage to the sandstone wall on the north elevation and restoration of the cornice work that was heavily damaged by a tornado in May 1995 and then destroyed in the 1999 fire. Work was performed by the Austin firm of AD Willis.
Building Description
The Harris Drug Store (1891), 114 S. Chadbourne Street, San Angelo, is a 2-story Italianate style, cut native sandstone commercial structure with an iron storefront, bracketed metal cornice, and a flat roof. It is typical of premier commercial buildings constructed in the 1890s. This downtown street has always served as a major commercial north-south artery and was one of the first blocks developed with masonry buildings in the early days of San Angelo. The building is on the north end of a grouping of 3 buildings that were all built before 1900. These three buildings stand out not only because of their similar age and architecture, but because they are flanked by an alley and a parking lot which serve to separate them visually from the neighboring buildings. The front facade features a cast iron post-and-lintel storefront with recessed double front doors flanked by large plate glass display windows above wood panels. The bracketed metal cornice has a pediment that says "Harris". The veranda has a railing and arched pickets. The second-floor facade features evenly spaced 2/2 double hung sash windows with arched trim, arranged with 3 on the west (front) and 6 on the north wall. The north (alley side) facade has a large cut native stone wall with a tall freight door to the east (rear) and a large plate glass display window toward the west (front), both featuring segmental arched trim. The east end of the building has a 1926 red brick warehouse addition with rolled steel windows. The downstairs interior features plastered walls supporting a ceiling overlayed with decorative pressed metal tiles. The upstairs also has plastered walls. The interior of the 1926 addition has exposed brick walls and pressed metal ceiling tiles downstairs and painted brick walls upstairs. A major fire in July 1999 damaged the building, which was fully restored in 2000.
Downtown San Angelo originally had two railroad depots located on the north and south ends of Chadbourne Street, respectively. The street between them became a major commercial north-south artery and was one of the first blocks developed with masonry buildings in the early days of San Angelo. The Harris Drug Store is on the east side of South Chadbourne Street, with the primary elevation facing west. It is on the north end of a grouping of 3 buildings that were all built before 1900. These 3 buildings stand out not only because of their similar age and architecture, but because they are flanked by an alley and a parking lot which serves to separate them visually from the neighboring buildings.
The adjacent SA Runkles building, designed by Oscar Ruffini was built in 1900. The original cast iron storefront was very similar to that of the Harris building, but only the modified end posts survive. The display windows, recessed front door and the iron posts flanking the door were all removed years ago. The facade has been remodeled recently. The third building is the Anderson building. It was designed by Oscar Ruffini and built in 1888. The facade has been covered with stucco and the pediment removed from the cornice. It was rehabilitated in 1980.
Across the street is a row of 1- and 2-story commercial buildings whose past remodeling covers their historical facades. While the west side of Chadbourne Street is much younger than the east side, all the buildings are still over 50 years old.
The building was originally 25 feet wide and 90 feet long. All outside walls were constructed of cut native sandstone. The foundation of the stone walls was laid about 6 inches below the level of the basement floor. The stone walls in the basement are about 8 inches wider than the walls above grade, thus forming a step in the masonry wall. A 2x4 sill was laid on the interior 4 inches to support the floor joists. This rotted away on the north side of the building, but is in good condition on the south side. The stone walls above grade are 20 inches thick. Most of the stones are in good condition, although a few are significantly deteriorated. Most of the mortar is in poor condition, and in the past, there were multiple poor efforts at tuckpointing. A stone parapet continues above the roof for an average of 2-3 feet.
On the north wall, there are segmental arches over the freight door and side display window. The header arches over each upstairs window and the window sills are hand-hewn single stones. The stones forming the vertical edges of the window frame were hand-hewn on the interior corner so that the interior window opening was about 3-6 inches wider than the exterior.
There is a dirt floor basement under the front 55 feet of the building. It is 6 feet 2 inches high. Originally there was a segmental-arched entrance from the alley into the basement, but this was bricked in sometime after 1922 (Concho Drug moved into the building in 1922 and there were items from Concho Drug which were too large to fit through the subsequent access hole in the floor.) A new entrance was created by cutting a 2-foot square trap door into the floor and digging out a passageway to reach the original basement. Cedar posts on stone bases were used for the pier and beam floor support. Where there was no basement under the floor, a pier and beam support system was used. In the reconstruction and stabilization of the floor, cement piers were built and redwood posts used to support 4x10 and 4x12 beams. A new beam was placed near the north wall because the old sill was in such poor condition.
Primary Elevation-West
Downstairs is a post and lintel iron storefront manufactured by the Christopher & Simpson Company in St. Louis.
The iron was originally painted with a red oxide primer covered with a forest green finish coat and white accents. The red oxide paint had the words Christopher & Simpson, San Angelo, and C & S written in various places on the posts and lintels. The columns have Corinthian and decorative capitals. Later paint marks note that there was once a vertical sign on the northernmost iron post.
Large plate glass display windows flanked the paired center doors. The upper part of the windows was originally about 78x80 inches while the lower part was 60x80 inches, although the original front windows do not survive intact. A bar divided the lower half of the display window from the upper half. Comparing nearby buildings designed in this period, it is possible that these display windows were actually double-hung sashes. Below the windows were wood panels 3 feet high. These wood panels were lowered to 18 inches very early in the building's history. After they were lowered, they were painted the same forest green that the columns were originally painted. This later modification was retained in the remodel because it was such an early change and survived in good condition. After the early storefront modification, the replacement window panes were fixed in place. These replacement panes are probably the panes that survive today, although the surviving panes may have been cut from the originals. They were salvaged in the recent rehabilitation and placed in their original frames. The edges of the glass had been clipped, not cut.
The paired doors were originally inset. During the rehabilitation, the pressed metal tile was removed by the front door to reveal the original shape of the inset. The king studs were constructed of 4x4's stretching from the floor to the ceiling. The exact height of the doors is not known because they are in the shadows in the early pictures. Using other surviving original doors as a gauge, the doors were re-constructed 8 feet 4 inches high with glass panels. The transom window was reconstructed as a single fixed pane, but there is no evidence to suggest its design. The side lights by the door were also rebuilt with a header contiguous with the door header, but again there is no evidence to suggest the original design.
The original facade had a wooden veranda over the sidewalk. Due to fire codes this design element was reconstructed using steel posts and railings to approximate the original. Decorative wooden picket arches were applied to the front of the veranda.
The second story has 3 evenly spaced windows, 36x101 inches. They are 2/2 double-hung hung and all are still operable. The stonework around the windows is described above.
Above the upstairs windows was a bracketed sheet metal cornice and pediment. The lower half of the cornice was missing as a result of damage sustained in a storm in May, 1995. The pediment had the letters "HARRIS". Originally the pediment said "RE HARRIS & BRO". Originally the letters were painted in a contrasting color. The cornice was heavily damaged in the July 1999 fire. The salvaged pieces were restored in 2000.
Facade-North (Alley side)
The front 90 feet of the north (alley) facade is a cut native sandstone wall that was about 33 feet high. Towards the street (west), the first floor has a large plate glass window (72x130 inches) capped by a segmental stone arch. Towards the east (rear) of this stone wall is a freight door which also has a segmental stone arch above it. There is a surviving original arched transom window that is divided into 2 lights by a vertical center mullion. The original door header survived, which allowed us to reconstruct the 10-foot-high double doors. There are no known pictures of these doors, but the basic design was taken from the other surviving doors. We constructed the upper door panels of glass, but there is no evidence to suggest whether they were solid or glass.
The second story consists of 6 windows identical to those on the west facade and a doorway that originally opened onto an outside stairway leading to the front of the building. These windows are evenly spaced with 3 on either side of the doorway. The original door survives. It has an arched transom window similar to the downstairs rear doorway, but the original glass pane did not survive.
The parapet was stepped in 3 levels with the first step about 50 feet from the front (west facade) and the second smaller step about 75 feet from the front. The parapet was severely damaged by the fire and has been removed. The stones were numbered and will be replaced in their original locations when the roof is completed.
The east (rear) portion of the building was added in 1926 and is a typical red brick warehouse style with rolled steel windows downstairs. The walls are 3 bricks thick. The first floor features a large freight door and 4 rolled steel windows with 3/3 lights. The windows are about 6 feet above the foundation. They originally had wired glass, but many were broken, so all the panes were replaced with frosted glass. At some point after construction of the warehouse, a new door was placed under the windows to access the upstairs. This door survived in its original condition until it was destroyed in the fire. The freight door entrance was significantly modified in the recent rehabilitation. To meet interior fire and building codes, this exit had to be made with an inset door. The opening was made smaller with a brick wall. The bricks were salvaged from a neighboring building of similar age that was recently demolished. The second story had 4 evenly spaced 1/1 double hung wood frame windows that were destroyed in the fire. They were replaced with aluminum windows.
The rear of the building features 3 evenly spaced windows upstairs and downstairs matching those described on the north facade of the 1926 addition.
The south facade is a red brick wall, visible only for the upstairs east 45 feet of the building. The large rolled steel window was added after the original 1926 construction of this wall. The window was destroyed in the fire and has been replaced by aluminum frame windows.
The original interior had a lime green beaded wood ceiling covered by a decorative pressed metal ceiling probably about the time the building was electrified. The ceiling modifications occurred at the same time or after the front facade was changed, because the evidence of the original inset doors was covered by the ceiling tiles. The floor was 1-inch thick tongue and groove hardwood. Over the years, there had been a number of fires that had damaged the floor significantly, making restoration impractical. The new subfloor is 1 1/8 inch tongue and groove plywood. The walls were 14 feet high and covered in smooth white plaster. The outline of the original shelves was still visible where varnish had been painted on the furniture and overlapped onto the walls. The plaster was in very poor condition for the lower 16-42 inches. The masonry had been tuckpointed in the past with cement. Behind one of the tuckpointed stones was a 1938 Dallas Morning News. This suggests that the plaster damage was done in the great 1936 Concho River flood. For the rehabilitation, the plaster was covered with a sand finish plaster.
The original drug store was elaborately furnished with rectangular glass display cases on either side of the wide center aisle. At the end of the sales area was a prominent clock. The walls were lined with enclosed shelves housing books and chemicals. Above the sales floor was a storage mezzanine that wrapped all the way down both sides and across the back of the sales area. The mezzanine was lined with a decorative balustrade. The mezzanine was bolted to the wall and doubly supported by rods connected to the ceiling and by attachments to the shelving below. A stairway at the front of the store on the south wall provided access to the mezzanine. There appears to have been a closet under the stairway. Some of the exposed walls in the store had wallpaper, although only a few small fragments survived. The area from about 3 feet forward of the original freight door to the rear wall was always storage and private access. The total area is 22 x 21.5 feet. There was a stairway near the freight door with a square stairwell that provided access to the second floor. It was later closed off. The top step was still in the floor upstairs and the ceiling tile was repaired over the well with a different pattern tile than was used in the rest of the downstairs. The private access area in the rear of the store had been converted to a fully floored mezzanine at some point in the past. Access to the rear warehouse was created above the center door by removing the masonry and header above the door.
The most prominent feature of the downstairs interior is the east wall of the original building which now serves to separate the 1891 and 1926 portions of the building. On the east wall of the original building, there were originally 2 windows (identical to those upstairs) which flanked a center door. The window to the south of the door was left intact and was never even painted after the original green was placed. Burglar bars were placed over the window. A 1914 nickel was found buried in the dust sitting on this window sill.
The doorway was significantly modified from the original. The door itself survived, but was in poor condition. It was plated with sheet metal on all sides and with iron bars on the interior. The top portion of the door (it was originally 7 feet 2 inches high) had been removed to make room for the mezzanine addition, so it could not be restored. We did remove the plating to confirm that it had the same design as the surviving door upstairs. The doorway originally had an arched stone header that had previously been removed along with all the stonework above it to make a doorway into the mezzanine. The doorway had a single light transom window. This window was found elsewhere in the building and used to accurately reconstruct the doorway. It still has the original pane of glass in it. The stonework was not reconstructed, but the shape of the arch was recreated with wood and covered in plaster on the front side. Part of this opening was retained for HVAC ductwork. The north window was modified in the past by removing the sill and the stone below the sill to make a doorway. The major elements of the window were missing, so this was left as a doorway. The wooden frame of the window was unstable, so a doorway header was added during the rehabilitation to stabilize the framework.
The warehouse addition on the rear of the building is 25 feet wide and 45 feet long. This addition has a concrete foundation and is composed of red brick walls. A freight door was original. The first floor had a pressed metal ceiling. Later, a door was added to the north wall. At probably the same time, a stairwell was placed along the north wall for access to the second floor and probably dates to when the access stairs in the front original room were closed off. The first-floor ceiling is 15 feet high. In several stages a mezzanine was built that divided the first floor into essentially 2 stories. Some of the joists were bolted into the wall and some were placed into cuts made in the brick. This mezzanine has been removed.
In the 1890s, the upstairs of the original building housed the offices of a dentist and a physician. From the street, this area was accessed by an outside stairway on the north side of the building. An entrance hallway led across the building to the south wall and divided the area into 2 suites. On the south wall, another hallway traversed the length of the building. At each end of the long hallway was a large office that was 21 feet 6 inches wide and 14 feet long. There were 2 examination rooms between the office and the entrance hallway, each of which was 12x15 feet. Each room had a window on one end and a 10-foot door on the other. One exam room in each suite of rooms had a skylight.
The ceiling was beaded wood painted lime green and was 12 feet high. The floor is original hardwood and is in relatively good condition. The walls were smooth plaster, but have had multiple layers of wallpaper placed over them. The interior walls were constructed of beaded wood placed horizontally and covered with fabric wall covering nailed to the wood. Neither the ceiling nor any interior walls survived the fire upstairs.
The west (rear) wall of the original building was significantly modified to provide access to the warehouse area. The masonry had been removed for 9 feet and a steel header used to support the replacement brick. There were originally three windows in this wall, but two were sacrificed to make the access route to the warehouse. The headers of two windows survive.
Upstairs we removed a layer of red and green composite floor tiles in a checkerboard pattern that was covering the original hardwood floor. Carpeting was placed over the hardwood floor. The beaded wood ceiling was restored and painted white. The plaster walls were finished in sand finish. HVAC ductwork was suspended from the ceiling. None of these design elements survived the fire. Damage to the floor during the fire required covering it with OSB board to cover repairs made to floor joists. The sand finish plaster has been restored.
There was a hardwood floor that was in good shape except for about 100 square feet that had water damage. The ceiling was wallboard sheets and 11 feet high. The ceiling was in poor condition, so it was removed. The walls were white painted brick. A single sheetrock wall divided this room into 2 areas, 10x23 feet at the top of the stairs and 23x34 feet in the rear. This wall was removed and the stairwell to the first floor was enlarged to meet building codes. There was plumbing for 2 bathrooms in this area that was removed. A single handicapped-accessible bathroom was built in this area The wood windows were replaced during the remodeling (as mentioned earlier). In the fire, the ceiling and roof were destroyed. The windows were all replaced with aluminum frame windows because of maintenance and insulation concerns mentioned above.
The roof was sloped asphalt overlaying sheet metal, overlaying 1 x 6 boards. The roof was totally destroyed in the fire. It is being re-built with C-purlins and metal decking overlayed with modified bitumen. The slope is roughly the same as before the fire and no roofing difference will be visible from the street.
Front entrance of drug store (1890)
Side North and Front West Facade (1998)
Chadbourne Street (1998)
Chadbourne Street (1998)
Freight doors, transom and jamb are original, doors are not (1998)
Display window and upstairs window (1998)
Basement (1998)
Storefront close up (1998)
1926 addition (1998)
