The Granite Building is a historic

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

building located at 124 East Main Street in Rochester,

Monroe County, New York Monroe County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, located along Lake Ontario's southern shore. As of 2022, the population was 752,035, according to Census Bureau estimates. Its county seat and largest city is Rochester. The county is ...

Description and history

The building was designed by J. Foster Warner in 1893 and, at 12 stories with of floor space, was the city's first skeletal steel

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

. Its facade is a mix of

Second Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style and Beaux-Arts style classical details. It is characterized by recessed, monumental, four story granite columns supporting recessed arches. It was built by Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company and served as their flagship store until the " Sibley fire" of 1904, when the flagship moved to the

Sibley's, Lindsay and Curr Building Sibley's, Lindsay and Curr Building is a historic commercial building located at Rochester in Monroe County, New York. It was designed by noted Rochester architect J. Foster Warner and built for Sibley's in 1904. The original wing of the buil ...

. ''See also:'' It is now an office building, housing a number of companies. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on October 11, 1984.

Gallery

File:GraniteBuilding RocPX.jpg File:GraniteBuildingRochesterNewYorkUpperFloorsWestView.JPG

References

External links

Skyscrapers in Rochester, New York Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Renaissance Revival architecture in New York (state) Commercial buildings completed in 1893 Retail buildings in New York (state) Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Rochester, New York Commercial buildings in Rochester, New York {{MonroeCountyNY-NRHP-stub