County of building: Franklin County
Location of building: W. Main St. & Elm St., NE corner, Washington
Built: 1885
Architectural Style: Italianate
Classified: B-3 & commercial
Current Occupant: Gary Lucy Studio and Art Gallery
District Map
"Italianate/Second Empire, 1865-1900. Coded B.
These closely related styles are represented by fourteen
buildings, ten of which are two or three story brick buildings with
storefronts and flats above. Most are concentrated along Main Street.
The salient stylistic features are bold, projecting cornices with wood
brackets (some with incised scrollwork panels), or corbelled brickwork
imitating brackets, and dormered mansard roofs. In other respects the
buildings differ little from the standard 19th and early 20th century
planar brick façade articulated with segmentally arched windows. ... also feature Italianate cornices as the primary stylistic element.
"Residential (c. 1849 - 1930) . Coded 3
This designation denotes fifteen buildings used only for residential
purposes (all are detached, single-family except for two detached,
multi-family), as well as numerous buildings which mix residential use
with commercial and a few which are institutional/residential or
industrial/residential and are doubled coded as such.
"Commercial, Coded With Black Bar
This designation indicates that historically the building (or part of
it) was used for commercial purposes. Since very few properties were
constructed exclusively for commerce, the black bar code at the front of the property parcel generally refers to a first story storefront.
"A later, 1830s commercial block at the northeast corner of
Main and Elm displays a fine cast iron store front
which also most probably was manufactured by a St. Louis foundry. The
building's restrained cornice treatment with bands of recessed paneling
and dentil work recalls designs of the 1850s as do the pilasters, ...
"Paralleling the mainstream neoclassical mode, the newer Italianate
fashion made its first appearance in domestic architecture, but was
more widely adopted in later commercial buildings of the 1880s and 90s.
Italianate traits usually are limited to cornice treatment. Although
round-arched openings were a popular Italianate stylistic element
employed in even modest buildings elsewhere in Missouri, Washington
builders almost exclusively adhered to the segmental arch. ... " ~ NRHP Nomination Form, Pdf pages 4-6, 14, 16 & 17
"Built: 1885
Style/Design: Italianate
Brick sills added to window openings. Recessed brick
panels form a frieze above brick stringcourse.
"1893 and 1898 Sanborn maps indicate printing shop.
Historic photo (1894) shows building as office of Franklin County Observer.
1908 and 1916 Sanborn maps show a bank in the building.
"Open frame porch, third story at rear." ~ DNR Historic Survey, Phase II & III PDF pages 634-635
Plaque Mounted on Outside Wall
John C.S. Foss Building
Foss constructed this building for his newspaper business. He was the proprietor of the "Observer" for several years and then in the insurance business. This building later housed the First National Bank.
c. 1868