1900 - Ficklen-Frank Stephens Building - Eagle Lake, TX
Posted by: 
jhuoni
N 29° 35.303 W 096° 20.044
14R E 758225 N 3276144
Now a H&R Block tax center, the Ficklen-Frank building was once the original half of the Frank Stephens Company, a turn of the century mercantile.
Waymark Code: WMWC9R
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/12/2017
Views: 1
The Ficklen-Frank Stephens Building (123 E. Main St., 1885-86) was constructed by the Vineyard & Walker Company and acquired by Frank Stephens in 1900, a date which appears with his name on the facade. Warehouses to the rear of the original structure were connected to it in 1907, increasing the building's total length to 212 feet.
An adjoining building, The Frank Stephens Co. Building, (121 E. Main St., 1909) is the same size and design. Both were occupied by the Frank Stephens Company; that name, as well as the dates 1900 and 1909, appears on the cornices of these buildings. The updated storefronts on either side are similar, with metal-framed window walls surrounding double entry doors. Above a single wooden awning, arched windows are set into panels surrounded by brick pilasters, each of which give the impression of silhouetted columns with wide bases and modest capitals. Four windows of this design appear on the older building, but only three on the newer. The original building also features a tall, slender open arch of protruding brickwork on the center of the second story facade. Crowning both buildings is an elaborate bracketed cornice with a floral-swag molding and the proprietor's name. The cornice is painted in shades of blue, while the floral molding is painted red on the original building and white on the newer one.
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