A B Nicholas--Crewe, Virginia 6
[8 images make up this set] This is a creative commons image, which you may freely use by linking to this page. Please respect the photographer and his work.
The date and history of this Crewe, Virginia building is unknown, although I’d guess it’s in the first decade of the 20th century. The metal front by Mesker Bros., a firm which specialized in supplying galvanized and cast iron items for commercial structures. In this instance, the front seems superimposed on a wood frame, and it’s definitely in need of upkeep, considering the evident chipping and flaking. Today the building houses a hair styling business, and it’s quite noticeable with its red and white color scheme.
The entrance is recessed with large display windows to each side, both on a brick foundation. A wooden entrance to the second level is on the left. Pilasters are on the corners of the front façade and extend upward to the roof. On the second story of the front, there are 6 additional pilasters, providing bays for the windows. All eight verticals are alike in shape and design except for the corner pilasters. They are decorated with white rosette squares and are topped with Corinthian capitals. The windows are 2/2 sash and very plain with no sills or lintels and all in a simple molding of painted red wood. Above the unadorned windows is a course of raised red decorations, resembling red dots; above this brackets extend down from the roof, still keeping the 3-bay motif. Each bay has a recessed undecorated narrow panel. Above this is a band of metal, filled with stamped rosettes. Cresting the building is a galvanized iron pediment with the name of the firm—A. B. Nicholas. It seems as if several areas are void of the metal façade design, intentionally or otherwise; the gaps in ornamentation seem significant to me. For additional information on Mesker Bros., four catalogs are located at archive.org
archive.org/details/Geo.L.MeskerCo.ArchitecturalIronWorks... [circa 1900]
archive.org/details/MeskerAndBro.Twenty-thirdEditionGener... [c 1900]
archive.org/details/storefrontsoursp00geol [1904]
archive.org/details/MeskerBro.MetalStore-frontCatalog [after 1904]
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
A B Nicholas--Crewe, Virginia 6
[8 images make up this set] This is a creative commons image, which you may freely use by linking to this page. Please respect the photographer and his work.
The date and history of this Crewe, Virginia building is unknown, although I’d guess it’s in the first decade of the 20th century. The metal front by Mesker Bros., a firm which specialized in supplying galvanized and cast iron items for commercial structures. In this instance, the front seems superimposed on a wood frame, and it’s definitely in need of upkeep, considering the evident chipping and flaking. Today the building houses a hair styling business, and it’s quite noticeable with its red and white color scheme.
The entrance is recessed with large display windows to each side, both on a brick foundation. A wooden entrance to the second level is on the left. Pilasters are on the corners of the front façade and extend upward to the roof. On the second story of the front, there are 6 additional pilasters, providing bays for the windows. All eight verticals are alike in shape and design except for the corner pilasters. They are decorated with white rosette squares and are topped with Corinthian capitals. The windows are 2/2 sash and very plain with no sills or lintels and all in a simple molding of painted red wood. Above the unadorned windows is a course of raised red decorations, resembling red dots; above this brackets extend down from the roof, still keeping the 3-bay motif. Each bay has a recessed undecorated narrow panel. Above this is a band of metal, filled with stamped rosettes. Cresting the building is a galvanized iron pediment with the name of the firm—A. B. Nicholas. It seems as if several areas are void of the metal façade design, intentionally or otherwise; the gaps in ornamentation seem significant to me. For additional information on Mesker Bros., four catalogs are located at archive.org
archive.org/details/Geo.L.MeskerCo.ArchitecturalIronWorks... [circa 1900]
archive.org/details/MeskerAndBro.Twenty-thirdEditionGener... [c 1900]
archive.org/details/storefrontsoursp00geol [1904]
archive.org/details/MeskerBro.MetalStore-frontCatalog [after 1904]
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.