The Campana Company was a manufacturer of hand lotion, most notably Italian Balm, and other beauty products. Despite the economic hardships of The Great Depression, Campana was prosperous due to an aggressive radio advertising campaign featuring commercials on several hit shows, including The First Nighter Program. Campana also advertised by mailing millions of free samples to potential customers. The company was successful enough to warrant a new factory in 1936. The factory was intended to use the latest technologies and architectural styles to promote its products.
The entrance to the Campana factory.
The Bauhaus and Art Deco inspired building was three stories tall with a central tower rising 100 feet (30m). The building is in a long, horizontal block, and the third story is half as long as the other two. The floors alternate between tile and glass brick with no mullions. The glass bricks provide interior lightning in lieu of full windows. Horizontal bands of turquoise tile stretch around the building, with vertical bands rising up the tower. The Campana logo is written in gold leaf above the main entrance and in a large, red neon sign near the top of the tower.
Inside, fluorescent lights provide lighting to areas not nearby glass brick. Most walls are painted white or are tiled. The east side of the building was used as a visitors' gallery, where Campana executives could give tours of the building and its product without disturbing the workers. The manufacturing floor was visible through large plate glass windows from this wing. The interior of the tower housed a 50,000-US-gallon (190,000L; 42,000impgal) water tank for fire protection and air conditioning. The frieze in the lobby featured Art Deco depictions of nudes.
The building was one of the first to be completely air conditioned. As a consequence, operational windows were considered unnecessary and were never added. Its automated assembly lines and mechanical mixers were considered to be state-of-the-art technologies. Cosmetic ingredients were dropped from the third floor to the second floor to be mixed. The company also moved its administrative offices in the building. Desks were established in rows to maximize space, a new idea at the time, but now one of the most common methods of desk arrangement.
A glass block wing was added to each end of the first floor in the 1940s and is the only major addition since the plant opened. The Campana Company was purchased by Dow Chemical of Midland, Michigan in the early sixties which allowed it to function as a separate unit. Because Campana's president, I. Willard Crull, was asked to briefly serve as Dow's interim president, he was afforded time to shop around Campana so that it would be kept intact by its future owner. California headquartered Purex subsequently bought Campana in the mid sixties, made Crull its vice president for health-care products and toiletries.[3] Purex moved all operations out of state after Crull's retirement in the mid 1970s and the factory is now closed. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 6, 1979. It is now the home of All Dressed Up Costumes and Fizzy Magic Bath Bombs.
Carew Tower is a 49-story, 574-foot (175 m) Art Deco building completed in 1930 in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, overlooking the Ohio River waterfront. The structure is the second-tallest building in the city, and it was added to the register of National Historic Landmarks on April 19, 1994. The tower is named after Joseph T. Carew, proprietor of the Mabley & Carew department store chain, which had previously operated in a building on the site.
Ayds Reducing Plan Candy is a discontinued appetite-suppressant candy that enjoyed strong sales in the 1970s and early 1980s and was originally manufactured by The Carlay Company.
National American Bank Building is a 23-story 325 feet (99 m)-tall skyscraper in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, It was completed in 1929 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It is topped with a distinctive 6-story octagonal tower with a golden Art Deco finial. Its address is 200 Carondelet Street. Originally a commercial building, it was renovated for use as a residential building after Hurricane Katrina.
Purex is a brand of laundry detergent and laundry-related products manufactured by Henkel North American Consumer Goods and marketed in the United States and Canada. Purex is one of the most widely used laundry detergents in North America. Its original product, Purex Bleach, was a major competitor to Clorox bleach. The brand name is also used for a line of in-wash "fragrance booster" products called Purex Crystals. The Purex Crystals brand was originally launched as an in-wash fabric softener product.
The First Nighter Program was a long-running radio anthology comedy-drama series broadcast from November 27, 1930, to September 27, 1953. The host was Mr. First Nighter (Charles P. Hughes, Macdonald Carey, Bret Morrison, Marvin Miller, Don Briggs and Rye Billsbury.
The Jefferson–Chalmers Historic Business District is a neighborhood located on East Jefferson Avenue between Eastlawn Street and Alter Road in Detroit, Michigan. The district is the only continuously intact commercial district remaining along East Jefferson Avenue, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Federal Office Building, Seattle, Washington is a historic federal office building located at Seattle in King County, Washington.
The William J. Nealon Federal Building and United States Courthouse is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was completed in 1931, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
The Michigan Bell and Western Electric Warehouse is a former commercial warehouse building located at 882 Oakman Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. It is now known as the NSO Bell Building.
The Cathedral of the Holy Spirit is a cathedral and parish church of the Catholic Church located in Bismarck, North Dakota, United States. It is the seat of the Diocese of Bismarck. Since 1980 the cathedral and the nearby Bishop's Residence have been contributing properties in the Bismarck Cathedral Area Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Sacramento Masonic Temple, built between 1913 and 1918, is a five-story building on J Street in downtown Sacramento, California. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The Campana Company of Batavia, Illinois was a major manufacturer of cosmetics in the 20th century.
Winchester Coca-Cola Bottling Works is a historic Coca-Cola bottling plant located at Winchester, Virginia. It was built in 1940–1941, and is a two-story, reinforced concrete Art Deco style factory faced with brick. The asymmetrical four-bay façade features large plate-glass shop windows on the first floor that allowed the bottling operation to be viewed by the passing public. It has a one-story rear addition built in 1960, and a two-story warehouse added in 1974. Also on the property is a contributing one-story, brick storage building with a garage facility constructed in 1941. The facility closed in 2006.
The Endicott Hotel is a historic hotel building at 1-3 South Main Street in Concord, New Hampshire. Completed in 1894, it is the only known surviving work in the state of the regionally prominent Damon Brothers architects, and it was the first major commercial building on South Main Street. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The former Albany Felt Company Complex, now The Lofts at One Broadway, is located along Broadway in eastern Albany County, New York, United States. It is mostly within the village of Menands, with a small portion at its southern end within the city of Albany. In 2014 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The New Center Commercial Historic District is a commercial historic district located on Woodward Avenue between Baltimore Street and Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
The University of Michigan Central Campus Historic District is a historic district consisting of a group of major buildings on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The Howell Downtown Historic District is a primarily commercial historic district located along five blocks of Grand River Avenue in the center of Howell, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The Commercial Exchange Building, also known as the Collins Manufacturing – Jackson Automobile Company complex, is an industrial building complex located at 2301 E. Michigan Ave. in Jackson, Michigan. The building was built partly in 1895, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. The listing included four contributing buildings.
The People's Bank and Trust Company Building is an Art Deco skyscraper built in 1931 and located at 663 Main Avenue in the city of Passaic in Passaic County, New Jersey. The 154-foot (47 m) tall building is the highest in the city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 19, 2018, for its significance in architecture. Vacant since 1994, it is now owned by the Passaic Urban Enterprise Zone.
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