Graves Building
- This article is about the 1912 commercial building, for other similarly-named buildings, see Graves Building (disambiguation).
Graves Building is a four-story commercial building at 1816-20 3rd Avenue North, across from the Alabama Theatre. It was constructed in 1912 by W. S. Graves who had founded the Graves Shale Brick Company in 1901. The four-bay brick building with sparse terra-cotta ornamentation was designed by Harry Wheelock.
In 1930 the building housed Dailey's Clothes on the left and Duke Brothers Furniture on the right. The Cable Piano Company later took over on the right.
By 1970 the left side of the building was the home of the Vaughan-Weil Department Store, while Lawrence Furniture occupied the right side, as well as a "third floor annex" which extended westward over adjoining stores. A major fire broke out in this annex on December 17, 1970, causing about $1 million in damages, mainly from lost stock.
By 1977 Mr King Furniture had taken over the Graves Building. The left-side ground floor space was the home of The Playhouse costume and prop shop until 2009. The right side most recently housed Lichter's Furniture and Jewelry, and is now vacant.
References
- White, Marjorie Longenecker (1977) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.
External links
- Photograph of the Graves Building on Flickr.com
- Graves Building on Emporis.com
- Graves Building on Google StreetView