Title Building: Difference between revisions
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:''This article is about the 1903 Title Guarantee building, for the offices of the [[Land Title Mortgage Company]], see [[Family Reserve Insurance building]].'' | :''This article is about the 1903 Title Guarantee building, for the offices of the [[Land Title Mortgage Company]], see [[Family Reserve Insurance building]].'' | ||
[[Image:Title Building.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Title Building]] | [[Image:Title Building.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Title Building]] | ||
The '''Title Guarantee Loan & Trust Building''' is a 9-story, 120-foot-tall office building constructed in [[1903]] at | The '''Title Guarantee Loan & Trust Building''' is a 9-story, 120-foot-tall office building constructed in [[1903]] at 2028-2030 [[3rd Avenue North]], on the corner of [[21st Street North|21st Street]] across from the [[Jefferson County Courthouse (1889)|Jefferson County Courthouse]] by the [[Title Guarantee Loan & Trust Company]]. It was designed by architect [[William Weston]] and built by [[T. C. Thompson & Brothers]]. | ||
The steel-framed building has a brown brick facade, laid with recessed courses on the second and upper floors to evoke rusticated stone. The paired double-hung windows are surmounted by brick jack-arches and the ground floor is embellished with brown terra-cotta in a subdued Renaissance revival style with a round-arched entranceway at the center. | The steel-framed building has a brown brick facade, laid with recessed courses on the second and upper floors to evoke rusticated stone. The paired double-hung windows are surmounted by brick jack-arches and the ground floor is embellished with brown terra-cotta in a subdued Renaissance revival style with a round-arched entranceway at the center. | ||
Revision as of 17:37, 5 March 2015
- This article is about the 1903 Title Guarantee building, for the offices of the Land Title Mortgage Company, see Family Reserve Insurance building.
The Title Guarantee Loan & Trust Building is a 9-story, 120-foot-tall office building constructed in 1903 at 2028-2030 3rd Avenue North, on the corner of 21st Street across from the Jefferson County Courthouse by the Title Guarantee Loan & Trust Company. It was designed by architect William Weston and built by T. C. Thompson & Brothers.
The steel-framed building has a brown brick facade, laid with recessed courses on the second and upper floors to evoke rusticated stone. The paired double-hung windows are surmounted by brick jack-arches and the ground floor is embellished with brown terra-cotta in a subdued Renaissance revival style with a round-arched entranceway at the center.
The building was the home of the first "First Order" Weather Bureau station in Birmingham. It also housed the Birmingham Sunday School Association, the Peddinghaus Studio portrait photographers, the Silver Pheasant Tea Room, and the first professional offices of architect David O. Whilldin.
The deep cornice was removed in 1956. A renovation commissioned by then-owner John Lauriello cleaned years of soot from the brick in 1986. Moody & Associates provided design work for the renovations, carried out by Charles & Vinzant Construction Company.
Following the remodeling, the ground floor was occupied by First Commercial Bank. Later it housed Safari Cup coffee shop (2002-2009) and O'Carr's delicatessen (2010). The building is presently the home of Southpace Properties, which erected a neon sign on the corner in 2011.
References
- White, Marjorie Longenecker (1977) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.
- Bowsher, Alice Meriwether, Philip A. Morris & Marjorie Longenecker (1990) Cinderella Stories: Transformations of Historic Birmingham Buildings. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.