The Nash Block, also known as the McKesson-Robbins Warehouse and currently as The Greenhouse, is located at 902-912 Farnam Street in
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
. Designed by
Thomas R. Kimball
Thomas Rogers Kimball (April 19, 1862 – September 7, 1934) was an American architect in Omaha, Nebraska. An architect-in-chief of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha in 1898, he served as national President of the American Institute o ...
and built in 1907, the building is the last remnant of
Downtown Omaha
Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and ...
's
Jobbers Canyon. It was named an
Omaha Landmark
This article covers Omaha Landmarks designated by the City of Omaha Landmark Heritage Preservation Commission. In addition, it includes structures or buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and those few designated as Nation ...
in 1978, and 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 1985.
About
The Nash Block was composed of two identical warehouse buildings, built in 1905 for one of Omaha's wealthy elite, Catherine B. Nash. Thomas R. Kimball designed the building as the first factory-warehouse in Omaha with the modern
fire protection
Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, compartmentalisation, suppression and investigation of fire and its related emergencies, as we ...
elements, including brick enclosures for stairs and elevators, fireproof doors and an automatic sprinkler system. The two buildings' first occupants relied on
the city's railroads, and the building's proximity to them.
The M. E. Smith Company was the largest and most important dry goods firm in Omaha at the turn of the century. The building was later occupied for many years by the McKesson-Robbins Drug Company, and is still often referred to by that name. The northernmost building was razed to construct the
Gene Leahy Mall
Gene Leahy Mall, also known locally as Central Park or The Mall, is a park located at 1302 Farnam on the Mall in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A., and bordered by South 10th Street. There are also two huge slides, a sculpture garden, a remote-cont ...
and in 1989 the remaining building was renovated into
apartment
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...
units known as "The Greenhouse."
[Spencer, J. (2003) ''Building for the Ages: Omaha's Architectural Landmarks.'' Omaha Books. p. 111]
See also
*
History of Omaha
The history of Omaha, Nebraska, began before the settlement of the city, with speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa staking land across the Missouri River illegally as early as the 1840s. When it was legal to claim land in Indian C ...
References
External links
Nash Block- Historic photos of the Nash Block from the Library of Congress.
{{Omaha Landmark apartments
National Register of Historic Places in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha Landmarks
Apartment buildings in Omaha, Nebraska
Commercial buildings completed in 1907
Thomas Rogers Kimball buildings
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska
1900s establishments in Nebraska