| Historic Name: |
G. O. Guy Drugs |
Common Name: |
none |
| Style: |
Commercial |
Neighborhood: |
First Hill |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1929 |
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| Significance |
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This building, although the storefronts have been altered, is significant as part of a group of similar buildings at the important corner of Madison Street and Boren Avenue. This building, constructed in 1929, is right at the corner. To the west is a similar and more ornate building, from 1930. To the north is a 1940 building. All are on the same parcel and are similar in scale. As a group, they establish a style and scale important to the character of the First Hill neighborhood, which has now become primarily large institutional buildings.
This building has four storefronts, but in the 1930s there were two larger stores at the corner and four small ones sharing the two spaces toward the west. A large G.O. Guy drugstore was at the corner. with a meat market, a cleaners, beauty shop, beverage store and restaurant in the other spaces. Over the years this pattern of varied small businesses has continued.
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| Appearance |
| This one-story terra cotta-clad building is roughly rectangular, with the two eastern-most stores being several feet deeper than the western part of the building. The notable feature is the simplified Gothic-inspired terra cotta ornament. Each of the four storefronts is topped with a Tudor arch with a shield medallion in the center. Arrow-shaped pilasters between each store pierce the simple terra cotta cornice. The corner storefront has an angled entry with a large square column a the corner supporting the building. The storefronts have been modernized with modern wide aluminum sash, especially at the corner. The two western storefronts are more intact in their configuration and materials. There is one large display window on the alley (west) elevation, and on the Boren Street (east) elevation. |
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