County of building: Franklin County
Location of building: W. Main St. & Lafayette St., NW corner, Washington
Built: 1895
Architectural Style: Second Empire
Classified: B-3 & commercial
Current Occupant: John G's Tap Room & Bier Deck & Brewing Company on main floor, apartments 2nd and 3rd floor and basement
District Map
"Italianate/Second Empire, 1865-1900, Coded B (Photos # 15, 16, 17, 18, 27).
These closely related styles are represented by fourteen
buildings, ten of which are two or three story brick buildings with
storefronts and flats above. Most are concentrated along Main Street.
The salient stylistic features are bold, projecting cornices with wood
brackets (some with incised scrollwork panels), or corbelled brickwork
imitating brackets, and dormered mansard roofs. In other respects the
buildings differ little from the standard 19th and early 20th century
planar brick facade articulated with segmentally arched windows.
Residential (c. 1849 - 1930), Coded 3
This designation denotes fifteen buildings used only for residential
purposes (all are detached, single-family except for two detached,
multi-family), as well as numerous buildings which mix residential use
with commercial and a few which are institutional/residential or
industrial/residential and are doubled coded as such.
"Commercial, Coded With Black Bar
This designation indicates that historically the building (or part of
it) was used for commercial purposes. Since very few properties were
constructed exclusively for commerce, the black bar code at the front of the property parcel generally refers to a first story storefront." NRHP Nomination Form
"Paralleling the mainstream neoclassical mode, the newer Italianate
fashion made its first appearance in domestic architecture, but was
more widely adopted in later commercial buildings of the 1880s and 90s.
Italianate traits usually are limited to cornice treatment. Although
round-arched openings were a popular Italianate stylistic element
employed in even modest buildings elsewhere in Missouri, Washington
builders almost exlusively adhered to the segmental arch. The
Italianate and closely related Second Empire or Mansard styles
eventually supplanted the neoclassical as the fashionable commercial
image in Washington. Most examples are concentrated along Main Street
(Photos tt 15,16). The profiles of their prominent projecting cornices
and dormered mansard roofs introduced a new visual dimension which
enlivened the streetscape. ... The
largest representative of the Second Empire style, 107-11 W. Main was
built in 1895 as a general store by John F. Droege, a native of
Hannover, Germany, born in 1843. The building's Italianate cornice of
corbeled brickwork deviates from the usual metal or wood bracketed
examples. A sophistication of design is displayed in the pavilion-like
effect of the center three bays which are stepped forward, separately
roofed, and trimmed with iron cresting.
"The two largest stores in town were both constructed in 1895 for
successful merchants who had operated general stores in Washington for
many years. John G. Droege's new nine-bay building at 107-11 W.Main
fronted 60 feet on Main with a depth of 85 feet. A special feature for
the vehicles and horses of the farm trade was a large "Wagon Yard" with
covered stalls and feed boxes located at the rear of the store." ~ NRHP Nomination Form, PDF pages, 16, 17 & 20