Kress Challenge Can you find them?

[Big IV]

One of the things I like to do on a trip while sitting in downtown traffic is look around at the buildings and try to spot the Kress building.
Can you find Kress buildings near you?
Can you get a pic of the Kress building?
Can you get a bike pic of the Kress building?



This is the rear of the Kress building in downtown Gastonia. It is not the best example of Kress building prettiness, but it does retain the painted sign that was common on many of the buildings.

I'm not old enough to remember the Kress stores (five & dime type store common across the US) but I have enjoyed trying to find the buildings for years. It has only recently occurred to me to take pictures of them as I find them.


Here is a hint, a nice article about Kress store buildings in Texas and beyond!
http://www.texasescapes.com/Connections/Kress-Buildings-Across-America.htm

[Big IV]

S. H. Kress & Co. was the trading name of a chain of "five and dime" retail department stores in the United States.  The Kress stores were operated from 1896 to 1981. The chain went out of business in the early '80s, but have remained a part of the cultural landscape, vivid in the minds of some, vivid in the urban landscapes around others.

The business was started in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, by Samuel H. Kress in 1896. Kress Stores were long a familiar sight in most cities and towns of the United States.

The Kress chain was known for the fine architecture of the stores, with a number of locations being hailed by architects for their design. A number of former Kress stores, now put to other uses, are ranked as landmarks. Some of the most well-known Kress locations included New York City's Fifth Avenue, Canal Street, New Orleans, and one at Hollywood's Hollywood Boulevard. The one at Hollywood Boulevard is now preserved at a theme park in Florida. The architect for many of these landmark structures was Seymour Burrell (he was also architect of the St. Germain Lofts, formerly the Kress store in Houston, TX; Seymour Burrell was S. H. Kress & Co.'s Corporate Architect and had studied architecture in New York with Franco-American architect Emmanuel Louis Masqueray.

The newly renovated Ft. Worth Kress building in downtown Fort Worth, TXIn 1964 ownership of Kress was acquired by Genesco, Inc. The company abandoned its center-city stores and moved to the shopping malls. Genesco began liquidating Kress and closing down the Kress stores in 1980.
 
A historic Kress inset at the entrance of another store at the same location as the historic Kress store in Berkeley, California.In June 2008, a Kress IGA Supermarket opened in the basement of the S. H. Kress & Co. Department store located at 1423 Third Avenue in downtown Seattle, WA.

In July 2008, The Kress Hollywood nightclub and restaurant opened in the Kress building located at 6608 Hollywood Blvd. This former Kress store, built in 1934, had also served as the flagship Frederick's of Hollywood boutique for 59 years.

The downtown Kress store in Greensboro, North Carolina is an excellent example that shows the chain's use of elaborate exterior details including coats-of-arms, metal work, and inlaid artistic flourishes on the keystones and corners. The building there houses an office area along with a nightclub in the basement level and has been the site of networking events on the roof.

Other Kress buildings around the country have seen a resurgence of reuse, most notably the Kress building in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, shown bottom left. This historic building, built in 1936, was which was purchased from its previous owner in 2008 by Nortex Realty of Wichita Falls, TX, and made available for residential and office leasing. The stunning renovations performed on the building can be seen in the photos and virtual tours posted at the building's website. The Kress building in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, site of that city's first civil rights sit-in, was scheduled to be demolished but was spared and is now being renovated.

The early 80s may have seen the closing of Kress as a department store (inspired by Woolworth) but they remain as fixtures in their community. 

[Big IV]

Today I was back in downtown Gastonia, NC. I was able to get a parking spot in front of the old Kress store front. It has been used recently as a discount furniture store, but that appears to be going out of business. The upper portion of the building still retains the gold Kress sign and decorations.





The side over the segregated entrance has a smaller Kress sign that is not golden. I did not get a pic of that side this time out.


They are trying to bring back downtown Gastonia.  I hope that the future is kinder to this large downtown building.

[Black Pearl's Captain]

I found the building here in Wichita but it's a bad place to take a picture. It's right on the historical intersection of the "main" streets, Douglas and Broadway. Maybe someday I'll be there and be able to park in front for pictures.

Raymond

[Big IV]

which has made it harder and harder for pics over the years as traffic does not always cooperate.
I lucked out and they had half the block blocked because they are refinishing a building at the other end of the block. That slowed traffic down enough that I could swing in and get a good parking spot. Had to shoot carefully to get between cars in traffic.

I've seen several that would be hard to get a shot with the bike.

That is a cool Kress in Witchita, I've never seen that one before. 

[Big IV]

When I posted this image of the Kress building from behind, I was parked in a gravel lot. The lot had once been a bank building. The bank moved across the street so the building was torn down. It made a nice shot with the bike and the back of the Kress building. They're usually photographed from the front so I liked this one.
Now the lot is being turned into a convention center. This may be the only/last shot of a Valkyrie and this side of this Kress building.
I love these ole buildings.

[hubcapsc]

The one in my home town, Greenville, SC, will be a CVS soon...



-Mike

[mario]

we had five and dime's in the midwest called 'kresge's which later became kmart in the 60's with a few of the 5 and dime kresge's still around for a couple more decades.

[Big IV]

The one in my home town, Greenville, SC, will be a CVS soon...
-Mike

Now that is a shame. Although it has happened to many of them. Progress? I'm not quite sure. Perhaps it is better than the empty building we have in Gastonia, NC.

A lot of those buildings shared a similar theme.  Kress buildings are still being used in Bristol TN, Johnson City TN, and St. Petersburg FL.  The one in St. Pete is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Kress stores are distinctive. That is one of the reasons I'm drawn to them.  One source claims 12 were in NC although I cannot find a complete list. The Gastonia Kress store is now divided up into several small and vacant store fronts.

The Art Deco designs were definitely distinctive. They are credited to vice president of architecture Edward F. Sibbert. The bricks, upper windows, detail, and the entrance tiling all pointed to distinctive.

The Gastonia one is larger than it first appears. Borrowing an image from Flickr the blue store front and the next building on the end have the same brick and block. Renovations may obscure it but in person the Kress-ness shines through. I missed that in my first quick pics.