GG-S-2400

Hello, I'm sorry it's been so long.

I've had to do my tax work during the tax season as well as come to terms with how much I was willing to let things like games interfere with my life. I've gone through a considerable amount of stagnation in this interim as well as trying to refocus my efforts on finding more gainful employment. As before, I couldn't let something like this take a priority as long as it doesn't pay the bills, so it had to lay on the side.

I cannot make any promises as to how far and frequently in the short term future I can make new entries, but I'm now in the position to make them again. I'm happy to do so.

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GG-S-2400

This property was a portion of the farm held by Gerald Holsworth until 1866. At that time, the area which faced the street was requested by Mr. Holsworth to be zoned for residential use, which resulted in the construction of ten single story houses on the site in that year. Half of those houses, those closest to the intersection, were bought out in 1911 to make way for the construction of what is presently known as Warehouse G for the Hanley Company.

The building was originally called the Redcrest Building, with the name decided by Daron Realty magnate Marcel Pritte after he reviewed the proposed design blueprints and set a demand for the decorative shields found on the crown of the building to have its stripes colored red. With that decision in place, the designing team of Elwind and Weiz proposed and were approved by Mr. Pritte to have the trim color match the red color of the shields. The twin thin red lines which are found along the edge of entire front facing of the ten story building are made of brick, which strongly contrasts with the rest of the facing's white marble. These red stripes are also extended horizontally across the building in alternating floors, from the fourth to the tenth, and angle around the center of windows at square angles. The same proportion of stripe edging is held in the ornamental top of the structure, which uses stained glass for the inner coloring. In the Daron Beacon, a column which described the building for its June 12 grand opening stated that the color scheme "gives the otherwise inanimate structure an appearance of vitality, as if there are circulatory arteries which circulate sanguine waters throughout its body". Mr. Pritte wrote a harsh response to this statement, in fear that the imagery associated with that kind of description would deter the intended female customers from shopping at the building. The response was published in a lower corner of the inner pages of the June 14 Beacon.

Mr. Pritte's intended use for this building was a center for women's clothing and personal fashion, and the initial group of lessees reflected his desire. These leaseholders were as follows:

Floors 1 through 4: Mr. Daniel Christenson, jeweler.
Floors 5 and 6: Mr. William Spree, shoemaker.
Floors 7 through 9:  Mr. and Mrs. Henry Reynolds, clothing and tailoring.
Floor 10: Mr. Albert Cooley, owner of "Springtime" restaurant.

The Reynolds family bore only one daughter in 1913, Frances, and were a willing party to being bought out by the Hanley Clothing Company in 1934. Mr. William Spree was able to hand his business down to his son-in-law, Michael Foster, who kept the business under the Spree name until he liquidated his business in 1948. The Christenson jewelry store was last held by Daniel's grandson, Paul, who abruptly closed the store in 1971. There are rumors that his withdrawal from the business is related to unpaid gambling debts. Hanley Corporation took the opportunity to obtain the property in its wake, and the restaurant was forced to close soon thereafter.

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