The Schlotterbeck and Foss Building is an historic factory building at 117 Preble Street in
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...
. Built in 1927, it is a particularly rare example of
Art Deco architecture
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 United ...
in Portland, the only one known by the noted Maine architects
John Calvin Stevens
John Calvin Stevens (October 8, 1855 – January 25, 1940) was an American architect who worked in the Shingle Style, in which he was a major innovator, and the Colonial Revival style. He designed more than 1,000 buildings in the state of Maine ...
and
John Howard Stevens
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
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. 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 2016.
Description and history
The former Schlotterbeck and Foss building is located on the north side of Portland's downtown area, at the southeast corner of Preble and Kennebec Streets. The building is a five-story masonry structure, with a concrete frame and an exterior of buff brick with cast stone. The ground floor is finished in cast stone, while the upper floors are primarily brick with stone trim. The central three bays project slightly, and the main entrance at its base is sheltered by a metal canopy supported by chains. The building corners also project in the manner of pilasters, and have decorative Art Deco details in the top level. Its facade is topped by a low parapet with stepped caps at the corners.
[Hanson, Scott (2016). NRHP nomination for Schlotterbeck and Foss Building; available by request from the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.]
Arthur Schlotterbeck, a German immigrant, established a pharmacy in Portland in 1866. In 1887 he was joined by Charles Foss, a Maine native, and the two embarked on the production of
patent medicine
A patent medicine, sometimes called a proprietary medicine, is an over-the-counter (nonprescription) medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name (and sometimes a patent) and claimed ...
s, which were primarily marketed as remedies for a variety of female health issues. In 1892 they branched out into the production of flavored extracts for cooking. This build was designed for them by John Calvin Stevens and his son John Howard Stevens, and was completed in 1927. It is a rare surviving industrial design by the elder Stevens, and is the only known Art Deco design by the team. Its interior, designed for the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of the company's products, is also rare as a significantly unaltered example of period factory architecture, both inside and out.
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See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Industrial buildings completed in 1927
Industrial buildings and structures in Portland, Maine
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Maine