Photo Record

Images

1 of 1977

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Metadata

Title

Arial photograph of property

Object Name

Print, Photographic

Collection

S.H. Kress & Company

Catalog Number

1989.13.1.5955a

Description

Reprint; halfscreen printed picture cut from a brochure; the picture depicts an areal view of downtown Greenville; letters have been on picture to identify buildings; see 1989.013.0001.5955b for key; text on back from brochure (Image 2)

Context

The S.H. Kress & Company, founded by Samuel H. Kress, opened over 300 5-10-25 cent stores in thirty states from New Jersey to Florida and across to California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. The first Kress store opened in Memphis, Tennessee in 1896. Many of the early Kress stores started out in rented spaces. By 1909, the Company began to open its stores in new structures created by S.H. Kress & Company architects like Edward F. Sibbert and Seymour Burrell, or built for it by contractors and held under lease. The Kress stores particularly thrived during the Great Depression, as they sold inexpensive products in luxurious spaces. Kress stores ranged in architectural styles, from Neoclassical to Art Deco to Modern and International. Towards the end of the S.H. Kress & Company life, shopping centers and malls overtook free-standing commercial buildings as the preferred retail locations, and new Kress stores were placed in large multistore structure. In 1964, the S.H. Kress & Company was purchased by Genesco, Incorporated, and the company was liquidated in 1980 and 1981. Some of the buildings have been demolished, while others have been renovated and adapted. The documents, plans, photographs, and objects that were gifted to the National Building Museum by numerous donors provide a rich array of information relevant to business, social, architectural, land use, race relations, and commercial history in the United States.

Credit Line

Courtesy of National Building Museum, gift of Genesco, Inc.

Place

Greenville, Texas

Additional Notes

Genesco Store Number: 635
Address: 2506 Lee Street
Facade Material: Brick, polished granite, limestone
Style: Unknown
Primary Building Architect: Edward F. Sibbert
Contractors:

Date

11/16/1961

Photographer

Unknown

Orig/Copy

Original

Medium

Photographic paper

Object Category

8: Communication Artifact

Donor

Genesco Inc.

Notes on Related Objects

Related Units: 1 photograph, 116 plans, 6.25 inches of documents
Book Description: "Designed by Edward F. Sibbert, the 1939 Greenville store was built on a site leased for fifty years. The L-shaped two-story building had the standard arrangement of two pairs of recessed entrance doors flanked by show-windows. The façade was primarily brick, with polished granite piers extending from the base of the mezzanine level up into the parapet and foliate and geometric patterns cut in the limestone above the second-floor windows, in the parapet, and in the pier caps. The raised central portion of the parapet had the Kress logo cut in the limestone. In 1974, with fifteen years remaining on the lease, the store closed."

Related Publications

Wilkerson, Susan, and Hank Griffith. A Guide to the Building Records of S.H. Kress & Co. 5-10-25 Cent Stores at the National Building Museum. Edited by Joyce Eliiot. Washington, DC: National Building Museum Publication Office, 1993.

Caption