County of building: Franklin County
Location of building: 5th St. & Court St., SW corner, Fulton
Built: 1890
Style: Italianate
Original Occupant: P. S. Adams, Knights of Pythias, & Delta Tau Delta Fraternity
Current Occupant: Harvey S. Clapp, Realtor
"Style: High Victorian Italianate
Foundation: Probably Stone
Wall Construction: Brick Bearing Wall
Important features: This building has a 3-story chamfered cast iron façade. The interior of the building is solid oak. The first floor offices have a very ornate Victorian plaster ceiling with oak cabinets along the walls and an oak floor. The upper 2 floors, which are now apartments, have plastered brick walls and oak floors.
Chamfered entrance bay on cast iron façade with pressed tine cornice
with a row of small modillion brackets and a row of dentils beneath;
Brick is corbeled below the cornice; third-story windows have segmental
arches and rock-faced hood molding and smooth stone continuous sills;
below that is a row of decorative terracotta with a floral motif;
second-story windows are flat-arched with rock-faced hood-molding and
continuous lintels; a stone belt-course is located about one-foot below
these! windows; above second-story window on cast iron front is a decorative
cornice supported by large brackets and a lintel decorated with large
rosetites; there are balcony railings of different designs at both the
second and third-story corner windows; first-story facade has cast iron
Corinthian columns and pilasters; windows and N door on first-floor are
round arched and each has four rock-faced voussoirs and a smooth stone sill.
"History: This building has had a colorful history. It was built as an office building in 1890 by Mr. Phil S. Adams who was, at that time, a banker in Fulton. However, shortly after the building was finished Mr. Adams embezzled several thousands dollars from the bank, left Fulton and was never seen again. At this point the building was bought by a member of the Jameson family, who owned it until purchased by the current owner Harvey Clapp. This building has been used for several purposes. It has
housed offices, private residences, and at one time the first floor was
a bowling alley. A fraternal organization, the Knights of Pythias, once
used a third-story room as its lodge and the initials K of P are emblazoned
on the roof pediment. Also, when the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity came to Westminster College in 1939 it is believed that the chapter
room was also in that third-floor room of the building, because their
crest is painted on the wall.
"The building front was made by the Scherpe-Koken Iron Works, which started
in 1880 as Koken, Graydon and Co., St. Louis, according to information
supplied to Clapp by the University of Missouri Extension Division.
"It became the Scherpe-Koken Architectural Iron Co. , in 1888, moving to a
new location in St. Louis. It was also known as the Enterprise Architectural Iron Works and Foundry. In 1893, the firm became the Koken Iron Works.
The company continues today as the Banner Iron Works and deals in
structural steel fabrication.
"In St. Louis, the company built the Jefferson avenue bridge, the Globe
Democrat building, the Boatman's Bank Building and the Laclede Building.
"The company's catalogue in 1887 listed 26 store fronts and more than 75
designs for columns. In 1895, 90 columns and more than 50 facades were illustrated.
"The Kingdom of Callaway Chamber of Commerce used a picture of Clapp's
building in the new edition of its city directory of businesses and
services available in the Fulton Area.
"Though a landmark for some, for Harvey Clapp the old building is a place in which to conduct the real estate business.
"But his interest in the building indicates it is far more than that to him.
It is a solid, silent reminder of those things in the past that were built
t0 last.
And, that is somehow appropriate for a real estate firm." ~ Historic Inventory of Fulton, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, PDF page 50 [link blow]