Architecture
The façade is clad in terra cotta tiles, with piers at the corners extending above the cornice. The ground floor has large glass panes and a recessed central entrance. A terra cotta band painted with a wave pattern separates the ground floor from the mezzanine-level windows, three in each bay. The mezzanine and second floor are separated by stepped rows of tiles, a wider band which originally featured a scalloped molding with a bell design, two rows of dentils (small then large), and a cornice. The second floor is divided by two wide piers, with two multi-light casement windows in the outer bays and three in the middle. The simple cornice and piers extending above it are a by-product of the intended five-story design being cut short. [2]
History
Mason Furniture Company
In 1908, when Huntsville was a milling town with a florishing economy, business partners James "Jim" Mason (1880-1948) and J.D. Manning opened Manning & Mason, a 300 square feet furniture store at 109 E. Holmes Avenue. However, Manning died shortly after the business opened, leaving Mason as the sole proprietor. The firm expanded over the years, and by 1913 relocated to 105 W. Clinton Street. The store boasted ″one of the largest lines of furniture to be found in the Spring City.″ Mason also opened a warehouse on Jefferson Street known as Mason's No. 2. The firm eventually expanded to 42,000 square feet of floor space in 1926. [3]
Planning
In 1927, Mason commissioned the construction of the building, which he intended to lease to other tenants, and received five bids ranging from $50,000 to $65,000. Mason entrusted the project to Edgar Lee Love, a local architect. The works were carried out by local contractor Charles E. Baxter. [2]
Construction and operation
Though Love originally planned for five stories, the construction was interrupted after the second story by fear of altering the skyline of the town. Sears Roebuck began leasing the building in March 1929, at which time they appointed contractor G. A. Rogers to build a mezzanine and an elevator, and bring fourth interior improvements. Sears left Huntsville in 1931 in the midst of the Great Depression, and Mason's moved their store into the building. The mezzanine was then enlarged to its current size. In 1939, local architect Paul M. Speake was appointed to build a rear extension, again with the help of Charles E. Baxter. When James Mason died in 1948, the company was taken over by his brother, William Oscar Mason. The company remained in the building until it went bankrupt in 1977.
Modern uses
The building has since housed a number of businesses. Crossroads Music Hall, also known as Crossroads Café, opened in 2007, taking advantage of the signature wrap-around mezzanine to host touring artists and local bands. However, the establishment closed down in 2013 after their lease was canceled for failing to pay rent. [4]
In 2016, arcade-bar Pints & Pixels opened on the second floor, providing vintage video games and pinball machines. Two years later, in August, the establishment suffered a fire in the kitchen, which resulted in the closure the UG White Mercantile branch on the first floor due to water and smoke damage. Pints & Pixels relocated to West Huntsville entertainment complex Campus No. 805 in 2020. [4]
In 2021, Crunkleton Real Estate Group sold the vacant building for $2.95 million to cybersecurity, IT and engineering contractor MartinFederal Consulting LLC. The following year, the company relocated their headquarters to the first floor and mezzanine, a few blocks from Madison Street where they were previously settled. The project was executed by M.R. Construction and Fuqua & Partners Architects. The second floor remains vacant. [4] [5]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
