L. J. Anderson Bldg. -- Bismarck ND
N 46° 48.336 W 100° 47.549
14T E 363233 N 5185121
The ghost sign for the L. J. Anderson Building on Main Street can still be deciphered. Blasterz best guess is that this sign dates from the 1930s.
Waymark Code: WMJZNM
Location: North Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 01/22/2014
Views: 4
The L. J. Anderson Building and its ghost sign are part of the Downtown Bismark National Register District.
From the Nomination form: (
visit link)
"32BL150: L. J. Anderson Building at 200 West Main Avenue
Individually Eligible/Contributing
The L. J. Anderson Building is a historic warehouse located on northwest corner of West Main Avenue and North Mandan Street. The International Harvester Company of America constructed it around 1910. At that time, the company ranked as the largest manufacturer of farm implements in the nation and was actively engaged in the distribution of its machinery to rapidly developing agricultural regions. This warehouse was opened to supply the company's farm dealerships in southwestern North Dakota and southeastern Montana. The company abandoned the warehouse in the late 1930s.
The four-story brick warehouse reflects a Chicago School Style of architecture design. The West Main and North Mandan facades (south and east elevations) display similar treatment. A visual pedestal is provided by a smooth concrete finish at the elevated base and rusticated brickwork finish to the sills of the second story windows. Both finishes are capped by stone string courses. Smooth brick pilasters divide the upper story facades into six vertical bays
each. The top of each pilaster is decorated by a long brick panel that terminates at a stone block. All six bays have a large window opening on each floor. Most of these openings retain an original pair of six-over-one double hungs.
Brick panels occupy the spandrel areas between the second and third story windows and the third and fourth story windows. Both facades are capped by a projecting cornice of pressed metal. Each also features a tall brick parapet that rises to a low step at each end. The face of both parapets have "L. J. ANDERSON BLDG." painted black on a white
background. The West Main facade's finishing treatments wrap around the building's southwest corner and complete one bay on the west elevation.
The warehouse's main entry is offset to the east at the street level of the West Main facade. It is marked by a brick surround. A three-light transom window enframed by a stylized stone pediment on short columns highlights the surround. A storefront flanks the main entry to the west. It is comprised of two banks of display windows separated by
a brick pilaster. Windows are anodized aluminum-sash replacements. The storefront has been further altered by the installation of a plywood cover over the transom area.
There is an original one-story brick wing on the north side of the warehouse. The North Mandan facade (east elevation) of the wing probably was remodeled to its current appearance in the 1950s or 1960s. It sports a wall veneer of porcelain enamel panels. A small storefront bay at the south end of the facade has a display window and a door sheltered under a flat aluminum canopy. Fixtures are 1950s/60s-vintage aluminum-sash and glass."