As I was reading this article from Ted Gioia the other day, I noticed in this image he used a logo I recognized:
This is Hollywood Boulevard from the 1930s. Notice the Kress Building on the far side of the street.
It reminded me of our own Kress Building in downtown St. Petersburg, FL:
And the one in Tampa:
SH Kress & Co was a five-and-dime store chain that’s been defunct for over 20 years. Though you’d think there’s nothing noteworthy about a chain of the dollar stores of their day, they’ve left a legacy of interesting preservation-worthy architecture in cities across the United States.
Many of these still stand as beautiful specimens of historical architectural styles. The St. Pete one in Beaux-Arts style, Tampa in a Renaissance Revival. Or this gorgeous Art Deco example from Fort Worth, Texas:
In our modern culture of thrifty, modern, utilitarian design, there’s no way a corporation would invest in this kind of general public good.
In their day, these buildings functioned as stores: places to sell cheap things people needed. But they doubled as beautiful additions to the cityscape.
Are there any going concerns today about which we could say the same? What generic commercial building erected in the 2000s or beyond will be worthy of preservation and reuse in the 2100s?