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F. W. Woolworth Building (Wilmington, Delaware)
Encyclopedia
The F. W. Woolworth Company Building is a historic department store
building located in downtown Wilmington, Delaware
.
operated the store, this location being one of the last to close. The building then housed a Happy Harry's
drug store and pharmacy for several years until that company was purchased by Walgreens in 2007. Walgreens
continues to operate the acquired Happy Harry's stores, including the Market Street store, under the Happy Harry's name. The building was purchased by a subsidiary of BPG Property Group in 2008 who now leases the location back to Walgreens.
Designed by company architect H. W. Stakes, the art deco
building uses steel frame
construction with a masonry curtain wall. The facade
on the 2nd and 3rd stories displays alternating peach and cream vertical stripes of terra cotta
tile with lotus
motifs. The building has a grey medallion with a raised "W" on the chamfer
ed corner on 9th and Market.
When a Woolworth's store, the interior had two sales floors, the current ground floor and the bargain basement. The escalators to the basement floor are still visible in the store.
In 1959, Woolworth added a third story which appeared in the original blue prints
. BPG has plans to renovate the building's upper floors and to add an additional two stories to the building for use as apartments.
at the heart of the central business district
. Woolworths also operated another store four blocks away at 504 Market Street. That second location now houses the Delaware History Museum.
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
building located in downtown Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
.
History
From 1940 to 1997, the F. W. Woolworth CompanyF. W. Woolworth Company
The F. W. Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first successful Woolworth store was opened on July 18, 1879 by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store"...
operated the store, this location being one of the last to close. The building then housed a Happy Harry's
Happy Harry's
Happy Harry's, a Walgreens Pharmacy, is a division of the Walgreens Company which operates 76 locations in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. It was founded in 1962 by entrepreneur Harry Levin...
drug store and pharmacy for several years until that company was purchased by Walgreens in 2007. Walgreens
Walgreens
Walgreen Co. , doing business as Walgreens , is the largest drugstore chain in the United States of America. As of August 31st, the company operates 8,210 locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901, and has since expanded...
continues to operate the acquired Happy Harry's stores, including the Market Street store, under the Happy Harry's name. The building was purchased by a subsidiary of BPG Property Group in 2008 who now leases the location back to Walgreens.
Architecture
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
building uses steel frame
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
construction with a masonry curtain wall. The facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
on the 2nd and 3rd stories displays alternating peach and cream vertical stripes of terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
tile with lotus
Nelumbo
Nelumbo is a genus of aquatic plants with large, showy flowers resembling water lilies, commonly known as lotus. The generic name is derived from the Sinhalese word Nelum. There are only two known living species in the genus. The sacred lotus is native to Asia, and is the better known of the two...
motifs. The building has a grey medallion with a raised "W" on the chamfer
Chamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
ed corner on 9th and Market.
When a Woolworth's store, the interior had two sales floors, the current ground floor and the bargain basement. The escalators to the basement floor are still visible in the store.
In 1959, Woolworth added a third story which appeared in the original blue prints
Blueprint
A blueprint is a type of paper-based reproduction usually of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design. More generally, the term "blueprint" has come to be used to refer to any detailed plan....
. BPG has plans to renovate the building's upper floors and to add an additional two stories to the building for use as apartments.
Location
The building stands at the shopping intersection of 9th and Market streets a block off Rodney SquareRodney Square
Rodney Square is the public square in downtown Wilmington, Delaware named after American Revolutionary leader Caesar Rodney. A large statue of Rodney by James E. Kelly stands in the front of the square. The square was created in the early 20th century by John Jacob Raskob who worked for Pierre S....
at the heart of the central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
. Woolworths also operated another store four blocks away at 504 Market Street. That second location now houses the Delaware History Museum.
See also
- Woolworth BuildingWoolworth BuildingThe Woolworth Building is one of the oldest skyscrapers in New York City. More than a century after the start of its construction, it remains, at 57 stories, one of the fifty tallest buildings in the United States as well as one of the twenty tallest buildings in New York City...
- Delaware Historical SocietyDelaware Historical SocietyThe Delaware Historical Society began in 1864 as an effort to preserve documents from the Civil War. Since then, it has expanded into a state-wide historical institution with several venues and a major museum in Wilmington and the historic Read House & Gardens in New Castle.The society...
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Wilmington, DelawareNational Register of Historic Places listings in Wilmington, DelawareThis is a list of properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington, Delaware:This page was transferred for reasons of size from National Register of Historic Places listings in New Castle County, Delaware, of which it is an integral part...