The F. W. Woolworth Company Building is a historic
department store building located in downtown
Wilmington, Delaware.
History
From 1940 to 1997, the
F. W. Woolworth Company operated the store, this location being one of the last to close. The building then housed a
Happy Harry's
Happy Harry's was an American drugstore chain that was merged into Walgreens starting in 2006. Happy Harry's operated 76 locations in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey. It was founded in 1962 by entrepreneur Harry Levin.
It was an ...
drug store and pharmacy for several years until that company was purchased by Walgreens in 2007.
Walgreens continued to operate the acquired Happy Harry's stores, including the Market Street store, under the Happy Harry's name for some time. The building was purchased by a subsidiary of BPG Property Group in 2008 who now leases the location back to Walgreens and it's opened under the Walgreens name.
Architecture
Designed by company architect H. W. Stakes, the
art deco building uses
steel frame construction with a masonry curtain wall. The
facade on the 2nd and 3rd stories displays alternating peach and cream vertical stripes of
terra cotta tile with
lotus
Lotus may refer to:
Plants
*Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly:
** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae
**Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
motifs. The building has a grey medallion with a raised "W" on the
chamfer
A chamfer or is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces.
Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fu ...
ed corner on 9th and Market.
When a Woolworth's store, the interior had two sales floors, the current ground floor and the
bargain basement. The escalators to the basement floor are still visible in the store.
In 1959, Woolworth added a third story which appeared in the original
blue prints. BPG has plans to renovate the building's upper floors and to add an additional two stories to the building for use as apartments.
Location
The building stands at the shopping intersection of 9th and Market streets a block off
Rodney Square
Rodney Square is the public square and historic district in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, United States, named after American Revolutionary leader Caesar Rodney. A large equestrian statue of Rodney by James E. Kelly formerly stood in the front ...
at the heart of the
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
. Woolworths also operated another store four blocks away at 504 Market Street. That second location now houses the
Delaware History Museum
The Delaware Historical Society began in 1864 as an effort to preserve documents from the American Civil War, Civil War. Since then, it has expanded into a statewide historical institution with several buildings, including Old Town Hall and the D ...
.
See also
*
Woolworth Building
*
Delaware Historical Society
*
References
External links
NRHP Site Listing with PhotoDowntown Wilmington
The Buccini/Pollin Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:F. W. Woolworth Building, Wilmington, Delaware
Commercial buildings completed in 1940
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware
Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places
F. W. Woolworth Company buildings and structures
Art Deco architecture in Delaware
National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington, Delaware
1940 establishments in Delaware
Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Delaware