History and architecture
This handsome Romanesque Revival warehouse building, now known as the Building, was built as the "Appraisers' Warehouse" by the U. S. Government. It fills an entire city block and is ten stories high. Built almost entirely of brick, its four sides are similarly constructed and make a very effective use of masonry arches.
The great arches at first floor level spring directly from stone blocks and embrace both first floor and basement windows. Above these great arches are paired, square-headed windows beneath a powerful horizontal stone belt-course which extends all around the building. Above this, the windows are impressively carried up for five stories and arched at their tops.
A skillful diminution of scale is achieved at the top of the building by means of paired windows extending up two stories and again arched at their tops. The scale is further diminished at the topmost floor where a series of very small arched windows produces a continuous rhythm carried around the curved comers of this great building thus unifying the whole. These windows, as seen from a distance, simulate the effect of battlements such as were to be found in Medieval castles just below the top parapets. Despite all this Medievalism, the general effect is one of powerful unity and of a generally smooth-walled brick building.
Sources and further reading
This history comes from the Landmarks app’s historical catalog. Names and building uses may reflect the period described.