While on his way to a project site, Eric came across a little building:
This was always a commercial structure (see below) and it is, obviously, very small. The lot is 25 feet wide, and the alley on the right is actually a side yard. But that’s a lot of cast-stone ornament in the parapet and frieze. If we look at the 1940 tax photo, it’s clearer, although unfortunately lower resolution:
That’s awfully fancy for a live poultry market. But I’ve got to ask: so what? Without the cast stone – almost certainly bought from a catalog – this would be a box, featureless except for the texture of the brick and the three openings in the masonry wall. While I understand the theory behind architectural modernism, I will never be convinced that a featureless box would be better for the street. I also remain unconvinced that it would be more honest: the ornament, such as it is, is an honest reflection of the society that this building was constructed within, one that rejected featureless brick boxes.
I am mildly disappointed that none of the ornament contains chickens, but that use may have come along after construction was complete. On a slightly more serious note, even a little building like this changes over time. Here it is in 1916, as small as it seems, with some kind of wood shed in the rear yard:
And at some point a rear extension much bigger than the original building was added:
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