The Fifth and Main Historic District, in downtown Joplin, Missouri, contains three early 20th century commercial buildings. The district occupies the northern end of the 500 block of South Main; two of the buildings face west, to Main Street, and the third faces east, to South Virginia Avenue. All are of brick construction, with flat roofs and concrete foundations. Construction dates range from ca. 1903 to ca. 1920. The largest and most visually dominant building in the district is the Christman's Department Store, at 501-505 South Main Street. The Christman's building is a six-story brown brick two-part vertical block building that was built in 1917. It occupies the southeast corner of the intersection of Fifth and Main. Directly south of the Christman's store is the Paramount building, which was built ca. 1912. It is a wide two-part commercial block, with open storefronts at street level and dark brown brick on the upper facade. The third building is the Christman's Annex, which adjoins the Christman's Store building to the east. The annex is also of brick; it is three stories tall, and has elevations along Fifth Street and Virginia Avenue. The north part of the annex was built ca. 1903, and the southern part was added ca. 1920. The three buildings are the only resources within the district boundaries and all three are contributing. All have served a commercial function since they were built, and all are in fair to good condition...
The Fifth and Main Historic District, which includes the buildings at 501 South Main Street, 507-5 13 South Main Street and 504-506 South Virginia Street, is significant ...in the area of Commerce with a local level of significance. The district offers an intact sampling of historic architecture, including a large department store, a warehouse/ support building, and a mixed-use building that housed a combination of retail and office space. The three buildings in the district were constructed between ca. 1903 and ca. 1920, and all have been in continuous commercial use since the time of their construction. The largest building in the district, Christman's Department Store, at 501 South Main Street, is located on the southeast corner of South Main Street and 5th Street. Designed by August and Alfred Michaelis, the principals in one of Joplin's most distinguished architectural firms, the Christman's building functioned as .a department store from 1917, the year it was constructed, until the last decades of the 20th century. By the 1910s, Christman's was one of a triumvirate of large independent department stores in Joplin; all of which were located on Main Street. In addition to its commercial importance, the Christman's Department Store building is a good example of the Chicago style of curtain wall architecture that became popular for large buildings in the early twentieth century. The Christman's Annex building is the oldest building in the district. Constructed circa 1903, the building doubled in size with an addition circa 1920. The Annex served as warehouse and support space for the Christman's Department Store early in its history, and it was later incorporated into the store itself. The Paramount Building, at 507-513 South Main, was built just south of the Christman's building circa 19 12. It functioned for much of its history in the typical manner of a two-part commercial block, with retail shops on the first floor and offices on the second floor. The period of significance for the district begins circa 1903, the year the first building in the district was constructed, and extends to 1954, the year Christman's Department Store was purchased by Macy's. The buildings in the Fifth and Main Historic District are in fair to good condition and are largely intact. All three buildings are contributing buildings; there are no non-contributing resources.
The building appears to be in fair to good condition. There are some businesses located in however there are also many vacancies.