The Kresge Block is a historic commercial building at 241-249 Water Street in downtown
Augusta, Maine
Augusta is the capital of the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Kennebec County.
The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth-most populous city in Maine, and third-least populous state capital in the Un ...
. Built in 1932 to house a department store, it is a distinctive and rare local example of commercial
Moderne architecture
Moderne architecture, also sometimes referred to as Style Moderne or simply Moderne, Jazz Age, Moderne, jazz modern or jazz style, describes certain styles of architecture popular from 1925 through the 1940s. closely allied to Art Deco.
Origina ...
. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1986.
Description and history
The Kresge Block is located on the east side of Water Street, Augusta's principal commercial thoroughfare, a bit south of the center of the block between Bridge and Front Streets. It is a two-story masonry structure, built out of brick and granite. The ground floor has two storefronts with a building entrance at the far left, sheltered by a decorative bronze hood. The lower half of the ground floor has polished granite below the glass display windows, and rising partway up the outer edge of the facade. The windows are framed by bronze trim, which also surrounds the store label above an awning sheltering the storefronts. The sign reads "Stacy's" using
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
styling. The second floor has paired sash windows, each with individual awnings, but shared stone sills and brick headers topped by a stone sill. The window pairs are separated by stylized pilasters. A parapet with a multicolor crosshatch brick pattern extends across the building above the second floor.
The block was built in 1932, replacing an Italianate building that was a virtual replica of its neighbors. It originally housed S.S. Kresge's, a department store, on the ground floor, with professional offices on the second floor. Since its construction, it has been one of downtown Augusta's most architecturally unusual buildings.
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See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Augusta, Maine
Streamline Moderne architecture in the United States
Buildings and structures completed in 1932
Buildings and structures in Augusta, Maine