The oldest building on this block, the Wharton Building, went up in 1901 while this, the Stewart Building, was erected just two years later, in 1903. A design by C. Ferris White, it is a sort of 1½ story building in that the upper floor extends only halfway to the rear of the lower story. While the ground floor was originally a horseshoeing shop, it was, for the majority of its life, a bar or tavern, over the years bearing names such as
Murphy's Beer Parlor, Bell Tavern, Kelly's Tavern and
The Wrong Number Tavern. The upper floor was divided into apartments, probably becoming vacant in the '60s of'70s.
Newly renovated, the Stewart Building now offers office space, complete with kitchenettes, restrooms, a shower and reception area. When we visited we noticed a sign in the front window for
Commodities Plus, possibly a commodities broker.
In the photos below the Stewart Building is on the far right
Stewart Building
427 W. First Ave Historic - Name: Stewart Building
Built: 1903 - Style: Commercial Vernacular
Builder: unknown - Architect: C. Ferris White
Classification: Historic Contributing
Description: The top story of this two-story rectangular brick building extends back less than half the length of the lot, so that
the rear half is only a single story. The west façade is framed by quoins that rise to the parapet level, where they are capped with decorative finials. The parapet features a central broken pediment topped with a lineal. An inscription with the name of the building is located just below the pediment and a bracketed cornice is located below parapet. The ground floor consists of a storefront with three plate glass windows above wood bulkheads at the east side and a wide double-door recessed entrance at the west. A projecting molding with dentils separates the first and second floors. The second floor is dominated by two pan's of one over one, double-hung, wood windows. The lower sills of these are adorned with dentils.
Cultural Data: C. Ferris White designed this building for owner D.B. Stewart and construction began in 1903. Plans for the
building included a horse shoeing shop on the ground floor while the upper floor would be divided into apartments. Stewart intended from the beginning to expand horse shoeing business and so the structure was built in anticipation of an additional floor, at an estimated cost of $8,000. In 1905, Stewart contracted with architects White and Hyslop to prepare plans for the additions. He intended to expand the second floor and add another story. These plans, however, did not come to fruition.
In 1907, Prager-Schlesinger Co., Inc., furnishing goods wholesalers had replaced the blacksmith shop on the ground floor. A succession of taverns occupied the commercial space in the decades that followed, including Murphy's Beer Parlor and Bell Tavern in the 1930s, Kelly's Tavern in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Wrong Number Tavern in the 1960s. The apartments above advertised as the Wanington in the 1930s and as the Paradise apartments hi the 1940s. The building has been renovated and now provides office space.
From the NRHP Nomination Form