W. J. and Ed Smith Building - 1894 - West Plains, Mo. - Dated Architectural Structures Multifarious on Waymarking.com

- Marker Text

The W. J. and Ed Smith Building is located at 109-113 Washington Avenue in West Plains, Howell County, Missouri. Constructed in 1894, it is a brick commercial building. The building is set directly on the sidewalk, as are other nearby commercial buildings, which are similar in materials and scale. The facade of the rectangular building faces east and is parallel to Washington Ave. The three-bay, two-story building is divided into north and south halves. A central doorway that leads to the second floor living spaces divides the two first-floor storefronts. The south storefront has modern windows and a brick bulkhead and appears to date to the mid-twentieth century; the storefront on the north side of the facade has wood-framed display windows and a wooden bulkhead and appears to be early or original. On the second floor, there are two prominent bay windows separated by a tall, narrow, arched-topped window in the center bay. At the roofline, a brick cornice runs the width of the facade. Two concrete rear additions cover the first floor of the rear elevation; the earliest dates to the ca. 1923; the other was constructed ca. 1952.

The W. J. and Ed Smith Building, in downtown West Plains, Missouri, faces east and is located on the west side of Washington Avenue approximately one-half a block from the courthouse square. It sits on a lot which slopes gently to the west. The building shares a party wall with the West Plains Bank Building to the south at 107 Washington Avenue. Dixon Street runs along the north elevation of the building. To the west, an alley separates the building from a parking lot.

The Smith building is a two-story, two-part commercial block. It has a stone foundation, brick walls and a flat roof with parapet walls. The roof is covered with standing seam metal roofing. The building, is 40 feet wide and 60 feet deep and is divided into a north and a south section. Each section has a storefront on the first floor and an apartment on the second floor. The facade of the building is divided into three bays. On the first floor, there are storefronts in the end bays and a single doorway in the narrow center bay. Just above the display windows, a wood frame awning with metal roofing spans the width of the front of the building. Above the awning, the storefront transom windows have been covered with plywood panels. The storefront in the south bay has large metal frame display windows, a modern glass and metal door, and a brick bulkhead. The storefront in the north bay appears to be early or original. It has a recessed doorway, wood frame display windows, a cast iron column and wooden bulkheads with grooved inset panels. The door in the center bay is a framed piece of plywood. Behind it, a staircase provides access to both second floor apartments.

The upper part of the facade features wood-framed bay windows in the side bays and a tall, narrow, arch-topped window in the center bay. The bay window on the south side of the building is very much intact and still retains most of its original detailing. Although it has been boarded over for many years, the early or original one-over-one double hung windows are still in place behind the chipboard panels. The center window has art glass in the top sash. Each section of the bay window is flanked by small wooden columns; wood panels below each window have the same grooved panels as the bulkhead in the north storefront; and above each window, there are narrow rectangular wood panels. A wide wood cornice with dentils wraps around each side of the bay window and two scrolled brackets support the bay window. The bay window in the north bay was damaged by an explosion approximately ten years ago. Only the top portion of it remains intact. The window in the center bay is very tall and narrow. It has a round-arched brick top and a cast iron sill. The main part of the window has been boarded up, the rounded portion of the window is filled with a vent for the attic of the building, and below this vent, there is a narrow transom window. At the roofline of the building, the brick cornice is detailed with a corbel table and a course of rowlock bricks laid on the diagonal.

The north elevation of the W. J. and Ed Smith Building is unstyled. Fenestration on the first floor consists of a double door and two single pane square windows. On the second floor, there are four equally-spaced windows with arched brick tops and cast iron sills. Although the one-over-one windows for these openings have been removed, the early or original frames and sash have been found intact on the second floor of the building.

The rear elevation of the building is also unstyled. The first floor of the rear elevation is covered by the two rear additions; the second floor has two doorways and four windows. The rear addition behind the south section of the Smith Building appears to date to circa 1923. It appears on the 1924 Sanborn map. 1 The rear addition behind the north section of the building probably replaced an earlier addition shortly after 1952 when fire damaged the north half of the building.

Although fires in the north half of the building in 1917 and 1952, led to a loss of interior detailing in the north side of the building, the south side of the building retains many of its early or original features and the exterior of the building is very much intact. Wainscoting on the walls of the south commercial space and in the stairwell to the second floor is still in place and much of the original grooved window and door trim is intact in the second floor rooms. A large skylight in the middle room on the south side of the build appears to be early or original.

The W. J. and Ed Smith Building looks today much as it did when it was constructed and up until the rehabilitation began, the building functioned much as it has throughout its history. It retains integrity of design, materials, craftsmanship, setting and association.

- National Register Application

Year built or dedicated as indicated on the structure or plaque: 1894 Full Inscription (unless noted above): See long desciption Website (if available): [Web Link]

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