Church Street Between Bank and College Streets, West Side
By Greg Socinski
Introduction
The Church Street blocks between Main Street and Pearl Street have long been the center of Burlington, Vermont, the state’s largest city. Located halfway up the hill between its historic industrial center, the waterfront, and its academic center, the University of Vermont, this section of Church Street shows an early density of buildings and has long been the populated by a diversity of shops and services. The block between College Street and Bank Street is a particularly good example of this. A quick look at the 1830 Ammi Burnham Young map of Burlington Village, this block, on both the east and west sides, shows a higher density of buildings than the surrounding blocks. This suggests its early nature as an organic hub of the village of Burlington. As such, there is a long and rich history concerning much of the block on the west side, the focus of this study. The Ammi Burnham Young map [Fig. 1] shows buildings occupying nearly the complete frontage of the block facing Church Street and is remarkably reminiscent of the building footprints we see even today [Fig. 0].
The area as it stands today is part of the Church Street Marketplace, a four-block section of Church Street Marketplace, an outdoor pedestrian mall that serves as the focus of Burlington’s downtown. It’s occupied by a bevy of retail shops, restaurants and other services, all tied together by a brick-paved pedestrian street, laid over the previous blacktop of the street. A pedestrian marketplace for Downtown Burlington was first conceived in the 1970s and carried out in the early 1980s. The original plan encompassed just the two blocks between College and Cherry, although it was expanded shortly thereafter to include the top block to the north and later, in the mid-2000s, enlarged to its current configuration. This conversion to pedestrian mall further reinforced the idea that this was the heart of downtown and has continued its importance as the economic, social and cultural hub of the city and its environs.
The Block between College and Bank, on the west side, as previously stated said, has long been a densely populated block. Its early economic importance is attested to by an 1862 map of Burlington by Wainwright which marks every address within the block as a store or shop, the lone exception being the Bank of Burlington on the corner of Church and Bank Streets.1 As one would expect, as there has been a strong commercial presence in these buildings, many dating from before the Civil War, there have been a multitude of alterations, both interior and exterior to accommodate the many diverse tenants that have occupied them. A brief visual survey of the block as it stands today will provide us with a starting point from which to relay our history of the block. We’ll make an imaginary walk starting east on College Street, then heading north on our block of Church Street, then turning west onto Bank Street.
From College Street west of its intersection of Church Street, we see our first building on inquiry on the northwest corner of the intersection. Commonly referred today as the Leunig’s building, this rectangular block with an Art Deco / Streamline Moderne façade occupies frontage on both Church and College streets. Historically, this building has included the addresses of 174 – 176 – 178 on College Streets and 115 – 113 – 111 on Church Streets. Today Leunig’s Bistro & Café is located at 115 Church Street and Danforth Pewter further north at 111 Church Street. After a narrow alley, there is a two-story gable-fronted yellow brick building occupying 107 Church Street, housing The Optical Center, followed by the modern parged façade of the two-story 103 – 105 Church Street, now occupied by a single tenant, Church Street Tavern. Another gated alley separates this building from 99 – 101 Church Street, a two-story commercial building faced with white stucco. It currently houses two businesses, Sweet Thing, a candy store, at 101 Church Street and The Sox Market at 99 Church Street. Garcia’s Tobacco Shop is located at 97 Church Street, another two-story clapboarded commercial building, on its left a door labelled 97 ½, which provides access to a stairwell for this building. The buildings north of this row of two-story commercial buildings are of entirely different character and scale. A four-story brick Italianate building at 93 Church Street, presently vacant, is connected to the north and to that a large brick Renaissance Revival building, occupying the rest of the block north towards Bank Street. This large structure, historically the Howard Opera House, fronts a significant portion of Bank Street as well and historically has occupied numbers 81 – 83 – 85 – 87 – 89 – 91 on Church Street and 159 through 169 on Bank Street. Current tenants include, south to north on Church, Slate, Ten Thousand Villages, Frog Hollow Craft Center, Pascolo Ristorante and ECCO Clothing and, on Bank Street, access to the office spaces in the upper floors at 159 and Simon Pearce gift shop at 157.
NOTES
1. C. Wainwright. The Village of Burlington, Vt. [map] Burlington, Vermont: 1862. Accessed 11/12/2018, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, http://cdi.uvm.edu/image/uvmcdi-116.
History of the Leunig's Block
The block on the northwest corner of Church and College Streets is the location of one of most unusual buildings on the block, the current Leunig’s Building [Fig. 2]. The building itself is rectangular six-by-eight bay commercial building clad in enameled steel sheathing and replacement fenestration in an Art Deco / Streamline Moderne style. The six bays fronting College Street are three stories, as well as the first two bays on Church Street, the roofline then slope upwards to four stories on the remaining six Church Street bays. Each bay consists of square windows framed by glass blocks, separated at each floor level with cream-colored steel panels detailed with a thin-lined brown square; between each bay is a thin, protruding pier of the same cream color and brown line detailing, rising to the eaves on the south side, and to the height of the highest windows on the east side, ending with protruding brown caps. Above these piers is a parapet with alternating panels each spelling out a letter of “Leunig’s” in the same brown color. The style of the building is one of the few examples of Art Deco architecture in the city and stands in contrast to much of the rest of the historic downtown. When looking at the building from Church Street, however, we see a single brick stack rising up over the level of the parapet, our first clue into the true age of the building.
Our earliest map, the 1830 Ammi Burnham Young map, shows a similar rectangular footprint to the one currently occupied by the Leunig’s Building, however this may have been relatively new at the time, as Rann indicates no structure was there in 1825.1 However, in 1847 the owners entered into an unusual contract where a new building would be constructed with both owners sharing ownership in this single structure.2 This building from 1847 is the one that stands there today, albeit greatly altered. This multiple ownership also accounts for the lack of continuity in the east façade of the building. As we can see from Fig. 3, there is a clear demarcation within the design of the Federal-style building. The three-and-a-half story brick building’s gable end faces Church Street has a typical parapeted roofline and three 12x12 sash windows in the upper half story and a fanlight over the center window. A clear line between the two northern windows is evident, as the section north looks to be unpainted brick and south is painted in a cream color. The fenestration on the second and third stories reinforce this apparent separate ownership: in the larger painted section, there are three bays of widely spaced 12x12 sash windows while the unpainted, and much thinner, section has four bays of much more closely spaced 12x12 sash windows. Under these separate sections are wooden porches over the sidewalk a differing character, further reinforcing this building’s unusual conception. Although the roofline, upper half-story, style and overall massing of the building do suggest this block was built entirely at once, the disjointed façade has shaped its visual character throughout much of its history and can still be observed by a keen observer even to this day.
Its inception as a street-level retail space with multiple owners and occupants endures today. Our earliest Sanborn Fire Insurance map of 1869 reflects this as the original delineation of the building as the storefronts on Church Street, numbered 115 and 113, seem to follow the façade’s division. The “back”, or western side, of the building, with store frontage at 174 College Street, is also evident as a single business and the earlier 1862 Wainwright map marks three places of business where one would expect.3 This building’s tripartite division – one storefront west facing College Street, one north facing Church Street and one occupying the corner – would be the norm well into the 20th century. Many of this block’s tenants had remarkable runs of success in business and this building was no exception. A certain “I.M. Hagar” attested to on the 1869 Burlington map would be in business at 174 College for many years to come. In fact, it may have been his second location within the building, as the 1862 Wainwright map marks “Hagar” on the corner and as early as 1848 we find advertisements for “Hagar & Arthur” selling hardware, drugs, paints and other home necessities on the “corner of Church and College streets” and in fact Hagar had been in business there since 1836.4 In the early 1920’s Hagar Hardware and Paint Company opened up another story nearby at 98 Church Street before moving there entirely in 1923.5 A few short years later, W.E. Peters purchases this section of the building with the intention of altering it for use as his primary florist shop, removing from his location of ten years diagonally across the intersection to his new one, 128 Church. In a newspaper article announcing the move, the location is described as “about as near the center of Burlington as a retail store can get,” speaking to this area’s importance for town at the time. However, Peter’s success at the location would be short-lived. In late 1932, his brick building and all his business’s contents were put up for a forced sale, as well as his home in South Burlington on Shelburne Road.6 Clearly the frugality of the Great Depression forced only many owners to relinquish their properties, as the businesses did not generate enough income to cover the mortgages. His business, its building and his home were bought by the Chittenden County Trust Company, who had held the mortgages, for a combined $37,500.7 However, this was not the end of Peter’s business as it does reopen at 185 Bank Street in August of the next year.8 Peter’s loss of ownership of the building opened the door for his neighbor at 113 Church Street to purchase the property – Hyman Abraham, who would have a great impact on this property. But to tell the story of story of Abraham’s, we’ll have to start with Morris.
Morris Abraham was born in New York in 1861. He was associates with his brother Lewis Abraham in Rutland for ten years before coming to Burlington to open up a store in 1889.9 Morris Abraham opened up his “first class cigar and tobacco store” at 113 Church Street, in the building that would make Abraham’s well-known in Burlington, using the upper floors for the manufacture of his cigars.10 As Abraham’s became established at this location, Morris began to expand his offerings and in 1899, he bills his business as “Abraham’s Cut-Rate Drug Store.”11 This did not sit well with other druggists about town and the Burlington Free Press on April, 11th, 1899, only ten days after Morris first announces his new line of business, mention a “Patent Medicine War.” According to the article, the druggists claimed Mr. Abraham only took up the medicine business out of spite, although he upholds he merely did so because of the money in it. The druggists were determined to bring Mr. Abraham to an agreement and if not to open a tobacco store directly adjacent to him at 115 Church and severely undercut his prices. Morris offers a truce of sorts, that he will cease his drug business if the others agree to purchase 10,ooo of his cigars per month but, since none of them have ever carried his cigars anyway, he believes he’s under no obligation to them.12 This spat did not seem to be resolved, but a mere three months after this disagreement, “The Bijou Tobacco Store” indeed opened at 115 Church, advertising “prices that will make you smile.”13 There seemed to be enough business for the both of them, as both stores would exist there, in one form or another, for the next thirty years. Morris was a businessman through and through, adapted his business throughout the years and clearly instilled this business sense on his successor, Hyman Abraham.
Hyman was born in Rutland, Vermont in December 1894 to Lewis Abraham, Morris’ brother and former associate. He attended Dartmouth College then served in World War I, after which he came to Burlington in the wake of his uncle’s death to take up management of his store and by the early 1920s he was the proprietor.14 If Morris was a good businessman, Hyman was a great one and was not content with being contained to the established and successful drug store at 113 Church Street. His desire for expansion was made possible by Peter’s bad luck, as the bank acquisition of the retail space at 174 College Street and subsequent sale in July 1933 to Hyman Abraham would make it possible. He would continue to rent out the 174 College Street storefront. More importantly, however, this also was the beginning of Abraham’s real estate business and the extensive alterations to the building, after which would be known as “Abraham’s Block,” as his extensive modernization left us with the building we largely recognize today. After purchasing the west side of the building, this allowed him to alter the interior of the store and nearly double his floorspace. It also gave him the impetus to greatly update and modernize the façade.15 For this, Hyman hired noted local architect Louis S. Newton to redesign his storefront in the Art Deco style, using black carrara glass, zig-zag chevron motifs and “Abraham’s” written above in modern, thin, metal typeface, which can be seen in Figure 4.16 The storefront must have seemed drastically at odds with the Federal building it was applied to. Mr. Abraham evidently had plans for a more complete redesign of the façade. After deciding again to expand, he logically decided to take over the space he owned at 174 College to double the size of his store once again and once again embark on a round of modernization.17 And once again Louis S. Newton was hired and it was he who encased the building in the enameled sheet metal with the familiar cream-and-brown coloring as well as replaced the old windows with square ones surrounded by glass blocks. Notably the height of the Federal parapet extended over the storefront, giving the façade an Art Deco verticality, culminating in it proudly displaying “ABRAHAM’S” in an exclamation of its dominance over the building and the block [Fig 4]. This created quite the contrast within the confines of a single building: half a fading 100-year old Federal style commercial building, half a shiny brand-new Art Deco storefront, encompassing and closing in on its elderly neighbor.
This contrast can be seen clearly even if one only considers the stores’ names above their entrances: Abraham’s and A. Schulte. One written in thin modern metal lettering of stark relief, the other in thick heavy serif lettering. One seems to look towards the future and one towards the past. The storefront at 115 Church Street, as we have seen, is inextricably tied to rest of building. When Morris Abraham moved in in 1889, it was occupied by the Central Drug Store, which opened in June 1875, at the “corner of Church and College Sts”, also in the tobacco and drug business.18 It’s no surprise that the arrival of a competitor right next door irked the established tenants. It’s likely their proximity to one another was anything but neighborly. After the great “Patent Medicine War of 1899,” The Bijou Tobacco Store took up residence on this corner, which with their already established location and aggressive advertising campaign, was likely a move to take business away from Abraham’s as punishment for his venturing into the drug business. Although it would have changes in name, ownership and management, the Central Drug Store would endure here until Christmas Eve 1929, when a fire broke out, extensively damaging interior and stock of the business to the tune of $20,000.19 The next year, the proprietor R.T. Burrows announced that, after over fifty years in the same location, the Central Drug Store would close its business.20 Perhaps the competition with Abraham’s had become too much and the extensive loss and cost of repairs would tip the scales in favor closing.21
Shortly after Hyman Abraham purchased the western side of the building, another cigar store, A. Schulte, a regional chain out of New York, moved in.22 It would remain here for over twenty years, when in 1954 it closed and re-opened under local ownership as “Schulte’s of Vermont”.23 It was during this incarnation that Hyman Abraham finally acquired the final piece of his puzzle and was able to purchase this section of the building in July 1955. The article stated he “has been negotiating to purchase the block for several years” and claimed his plans for the space were “indefinite.”24 Photos from the era however reveal that his plans seemed definite enough and although he never expanded his drug store again to encompass the newly acquired space, he did expand his modern façade to finally cover the entirety of the exterior, as seen in Fig. 5. Although the building today looks consistent, we can see traces of stages of construction on the College Street façade. Where the façade is split by “Leunig’s” in Fig. 6, we see a slight color change in the paneling, indicating a difference in age. Abraham’s, unlike with their acquisition of the College Street frontage, never expanded into this space, even after Schulte’s of Vermont owners declared bankruptcy and closed shop in 1958.25
The 1960s finally put an end to the long-running tobacco and drug store on the corner when A&W, a long-running root beer and burger chain, moved into this location. This era also brought the first incarnation of “Abraham’s Camera Center,” initially operated above the drug store on Church Street by Hyman’s son-in-law Irwin Abrams, who married into the family in 1955.26 Irwin would come to manage both the drug store on Church Street and the Abraham Building Corporation which had real estate holdings about the city.27 This is the business that would continue in the original Abraham’s location into the new millennium. After Hyman’s death in 1974, Irwin Abrams would take over ownership of the business and phase out the pharmacy by the 80s, dedicating the business full time to photography. On the corner of the building, a faded protruding sign advertising a “Camera Center” still is present. His son and an associate even set up a professional advertising photography business in the building in 1982.28
During this time the last important resident begins, one that would ultimately eclipse the Abraham’s name, Leunig’s Bistro & Café. They first opened in 1980 and have been there since, slowly expanding throughout the building and making their mark on the building in an Abraham’s-esque fashion.29 Throughout their time, they have expanded from the original corner store to encompass the old 174 College space, added a permanent porch in the ‘90s on the College Street side to accommodate added diners, utilized the Church Street Marketplace in warm weather and most recently added a lounge on the second floor, complete with a ‘20s era theme and Art Deco detailing in line with the rest of the building. This expansion has coincided with the contraction of Abraham’s, who finally closed on Christmas Eve 2003, after Irwin’s 45 years in the camera business here and Abraham’s 115 years overall.30
The proprietors who took the building from a 19th century Federal commercial block to Burlington’s most recognizable 20th century Art Deco landmark only lasted a few short years into the 21st century. Leunig’s dominance seemed complete when in 2006 they got approval to change the letters reading “Abraham’s” along the building’s parapet to read “Leunig’s”, a final declaration of the changing times. Interestingly, just as Hyman Abraham covered a historic building in a modern skin, Leunig’s covered Abraham’s with stretch vinyl panels, so beneath them evidence of the legacy of the Abraham’s still remains.
NOTES
1. W.S. Rann. History of Chittenden County, Vermont. (Chittenden County, Vermont: 1886), 421.
2. National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Church Street Historic District, Chittenden County, Vermont. Burlington, VT: Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, 2010, 76.
3. C. Wainwright. The Village of Burlington, Vt. [map] (Burlington, Vermont: 1862), accessed 11/12/2018, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, http://cdi.uvm.edu/image/uvmcdi-116.
4. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), April 6th, 1848, 3.
Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 23rd, 1926, 8.
5. “City News,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 28th, 1938, 12.
6. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 12th, 1932, 8.
7. “W.E. Peter’s Property Is Sold At Auction,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 31st, 1932, 10.
8. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), August 5th, 1933, 6.
9. “Obituary – Morris Abraham,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), November 19th, 1917, 8.
10. “The Patent Medicine War,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), April 11th, 1899, 6.
11. Advertisment, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), April 1st, 1899, 5.
12. “The Patent Medicine War,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), April 11th, 1899, 6.
13. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 29th, 1899, 2.
14. “Hyman Abraham, Businessman, Dies in Florida,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), June 18th, 1974, 12.
15. “Hyman W. Abraham Buys Peters’ Block,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 10th, 1933, 14.
16. Historic Preservation Program, The Burlington Book. (Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program, 1980), 25.
17. “Abraham’s Store To Be Double Present Size; Other Changes Coming As Result,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), November 24th, 1945, 14.
18. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), June 1st, 1875, pg.2.
19. “Central Drug Store Damaged By Fire,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 26th, 1929, 9.
20. “Restaurant To Succeed Long Time Corner Drug Store,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), June 14th, 1930, 9.
21. “City News,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 2nd, 1930, 10.
22. “Schulte Company to Open Chain Cigar Store Here,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 24th, 1933, 7.
23. “Leblancs Rent Former Site Of Schulte Store,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 16th, 1955, 9.
24. “Abraham Buys Adjacent Block On Church St.,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 19th, 1955, 1.
25. “Operators of Schulte’s, Bake Shop File in Bankruptcy in U.S. Court,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 15th, 1958, 11.
26. “Esther Abraham Becomes Fiancee Of Irwin Abrams,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 12th, 1955, 4.
27. “Car Towing Last Resort, Businessmen Tell Court,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 14th 1968, 12
28. “Photographers Set Up Shop To Take the Difficult Shots,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), May 2nd, 1982, pg 45.
29. “Did You Know?,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 3rd, 1980, 37.
30. Shawn Turner, "Downtown camera shop closes," The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 30th, 2003, 4.
107 Church Street
Although the 1830 Ammi B. Young map indicates structures in all these locations, most facades show little declaration of age. While the storefront is a typically modern glass-and-steel-framed one, the second story of 107 Church Street indicates more of its age [Fig.7]. The three segmentally arched windows with brick drip moldings, central oculus window (long since filled-in), cornice returns and brackets underneath the modern glass canopy indicate this as an early 19th century Federal-styled building, is more than likely the same structure from the 1830 map and in fact what “may be the oldest intact historic structure on Church Street” is attested to as early as 1825.1 As early as the 1860s there was a wooden shed in the rear, which was added onto in the late 1880s, as evidenced by 1889 Sanborn Map, and these wooden clapboarded structures still exist today.2 The weight of history also seems to be behind this building in terms of occupancy. As early as 1881 the store was occupied by H.E. Adams, a watchmaker and jeweler, who also had expertise as an optician and ophthalmologist, and continued as a jewelry store for many years.3 In fact, it seemed so well-established as a jewelry and eyewear location that Nelson Bero moved his established store here from only three lots north at 99 Church Street. Bero also updated the store making it “one of the most attractive on the street” with new plate glass windows, marble window bases and an interior finished in mahogany.4 The Bero Company’s most enduring addition was the distinctive street sign clock which is still an emblem of this block. The clock, now accompanied by neon wire-rim glasses advertising current occupant The Optical Center, which was installed in 1925 and called the “unofficial timepiece of Burlington,” can be seen in Figure 8.5 Bero operated at this location until 1967, long after Mr. Bero had passed, ending what was a remarkable 174-year business history as a jewelry store on Church Street, having been established as Brinsmaid and Hildreth in 1793 on the second story of 104 Church. Jim Detore, a local photographer, who bought 107 Church Street after Bero’s departure, vowed to keep the landmark clock outside his new photography and gift shop.6 Detore’s competition to Abraham’s Camera Center with only an alley separating the two was short-lived however as Mr. Detore passed in January 1969.7 The Optical Center, then owned by Herbert Davis, moved into the location and keeping with the traditional use of the store sold eyewear as well as gifts. It was Davis that also had the clock repaired to an operable condition.8 The Optical Center still occupies this location today and currently holds the distinction as the longest running business on this block of Church Street.
NOTES
1. National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Church Street Historic District, Chittenden County, Vermont. Burlington, VT: Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, 2010, 81.
2. W.S. Rann. History of Chittenden County, Vermont. (Chittenden County, Vermont: 1886), 421.
3. Sanborn Map Company, Burlington 1889, Sheet 04. [map]. (New York: Sanborn Map Company), accessed October 10th, 2018, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, https://cdi.uvm.edu/image/uvmcdi-86384
4. “H.E. Adams & Sons, Watchmakers and Jewellers,” The Burlington Independent (Burlington, VT), April 9th, 1886, 5.
5. “New Jewelry Store,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 2nd, 1910, 7.
6. “Bero Jewelry Co. Closing After 174-Year History,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), May 19th 1967, 9.
7. “Saved,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), June 9th, 1967, 17.
8. “James V. Detore Sr. Dies; Businessman, Photographer,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), January, 18th, 1969, 11.
103-105 Church Street
The modern storefront of 103 – 105 Church Street speaks little of its actual age as early 19th century wooden framed structure. The wide recessed band of aluminum-framed windows on the second story and the concrete parged surface of grey, black and red, scored on the piers and around the door frame to resemble stone, indicate the façade modernization done in the early 1980s [Fig.9].1 Photographic evidence indicates the historic façade, which seemed to have been a low-pitched gable fronted structure, has been covered up since at least the late 1960s. Today, the building has a plaque recounting is history as “one of the oldest surviving building on Church Street, possibly built in the 1820s” [Fig. 10]. This assertion seems to be valid as a structure is evidenced here on the 1830 Ammi B. Young map. The footprint seems largely unchanged according to map evidence, as brick warehouses were directly behind it. These were demolished in the late 1950s to make space for a parking lot and a wooden triangular addition was added to the back of the building seemingly connecting it to a brick warehouse behind structures at 101-99-97 Church Street in the 1970s.2 The plaque also tells us that the famous Pangorn and Brinsmaid jewelry store was formed here in 1832, whose establishment would eventually lead its way to the Bero Company in the next century. J.E. Brinsmaid still operated here in the 1880s and in fact within the span of three buildings, there were three jewelers, as shown on a Burlington Free Press business directory [Fig. 11].3
The building, while housing a single restaurant since the late 1960s, has typically been two storefronts.4 The 105 Church Street location housed (appropriately) a jewelry store in the 1870s, a Chinese laundry in the 1880s and 90s, then the headquarters for Citizen’s Coal Company for over fifty years, up until 1955.5 After this long tenancy, it briefly housed several businesses before being absorbed by the adjacent restaurant. 103 Church Street, as the plaque indicates, has held a long line of restaurants, much of their history intertwined. A 1959 advertisement after a remodeling perhaps lays it out best: opened in 1908 as Boston Lunch, renamed Queen City Café in 1925, then Liberty Restaurant in 1930 and being passed down from one co-owner to the next.6 The first changing of hands was perhaps spurred on by a fire originating in the Boston Lunch kitchen on September 21st, 1925. The blaze spread to through adjacent wooden buildings as well, contained by the brick veneers of 107 Church and 95 Church. With much physical and monetary damage to multiple businesses, it led the fire marshal to declare that “being in the inner fire district of the inner city, these damaged buildings should not be reconstructed. They are fire traps.”7 Perhaps against his wishes, these buildings were rebuilt and would endure another round of fire two decades later. The Liberty Restaurant, after nearly sixty years in operation, was sold outright to two guys, who opened another eatery here aptly named “Two Guys.”8 It’s continued its presence as a restaurant occupying to entire building since, under several names: The Office in the 1970s, Queen City Tavern in the 1980s and early 1990s and Church Street Tavern since 1995.9
NOTES
1. National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Church Street Historic District, Chittenden County, Vermont. Burlington, VT: Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, 2010, 82.
2. “Brick Wall Topples Wrong Way Here, Crashes Down on Liberty Restaurant,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 1st, 1958, 7.
Sanborn Map Company, Burlington 1978, [map]. (New York: Sanborn Map Company), accessed September 11th, 2018, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library.
3. “City Directory,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 6th, 1882, 1.
4. “Restaurant Changes Hands,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 11th, 1967, 8.
5. Advertisement, “Geo. Simpson, Watchmaker and Jeweller,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 5th, 1871, 2.
“Notice,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), April 1st, 1901, 3.
Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 19th, 1902, 5.
“Citizens Coal To Move Soon To New Office,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 17th, 1955, 7.
6. Advertisement, “A New, Improved Liberty Restaurant Opens Today,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 9th, 1959, 9
7. “Loss of $35,000 In Sunday Morning Fire,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 21st, 1925, 7.
8. “Restaurant Changes Hands,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 11th, 1967, 8.
9.“Burlington’s Colorful Eating Places,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 28th, 1974, 6.
Advertisement, “Grand Opening Friday Sept 28th The Queen City Tavern,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 28th, 1984, 25.
Stacey Chase, “Church Street Taven plans April 1 Opening,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 25th, 1995, 14.
99-101 Church
The two-story white stucco building that stand here today is all that remains of an earlier 3-story structure [Fig. 12]. Photographic evidence from late 19th century indicates a light-colored clapboarded structure with Italianate detailing and cornice, however it has been stuccoed since at least the early 1930s [Fig. 13].1 Unlike 103 – 105 Church Street, this double storefront property has remained separate throughout its history, and businesses have operated out of the second stories with residences on the third. In 101, as early as the 1880s, the Kent Brothers established their confectionary and grocery store which operated until relocation in 1912.2 The Kent store also utilized the brick storehouse behind his store for storage and as a bakery. The following year the Burlington Shoe Shine Parlors opened up on street level, but a bakery was still being operated out of this location.3 In 1924, a candy store named Candyland moved in only to be ousted by another shoe related business, Burlington Shoe Repairing Company in 1931, the storefront of which can be seen in Fig. 14.4 This business would operate under one name or another at this location until the mid-80s.5 Since then, the location has housed a candy store of some sort, reflecting its earlier incarnation in the 1920s. 99 Church Street has also been to home to long established businesses, starting with the first location in the early 1880s of Brinsmaid & Hildreth, formed by the brother and former associates of Edgar Brinsmaid, who continued to operate out of 103 Church Stre, just three doors down.6 They manufactured jewelry and imported watches as well as acted as early opticians in the area.7 Interestingly, the circa-1880s photograph seen in Fig. 13 shows a suspended clock outside of their shop, perhaps inspiring the one later located at 107 Church. Nelson Bero would continue on their business under The Bero Company after 1903 before moving a few doors down in 1910.8 A grocery store, Boston Fruit and Meat Market, was located there for over twenty years before several businesses came and went during the Great Depression.9 One, the Collegiate Shoppe, expanded from 97 Church Street and joined it via a large archway to 99, a marriage that was evidently short-lived, as another shoe repair, The Shufix, came into the location in 1941 which operated there until the 1970s.10 Several businesses have since operated here, including an art supply in the 1980s, a t-shirt shop in the 1990s and currently The Sox Market. This block is evidence of healthy business competition throughout the years, as similar or nearly identical businesses operated concurrently within a few doors of one another. It speaks to the block’s long history as an established business sector in the city. This building’s third-floor residences, however, were swiftly erased on October 22nd, 1943, when a worker dropped a can of cleaning fluid on a lighted gas boiler towards the rear of the Burlington Shoe Repair Company. The Burlington Free Press called the blaze the largest in many months and it left an indelible mark on the streetscape, as it reduced this building’s height by a third.11 The rebuilding likely wiped out any lingering historic elements of the building’s façade, leaving it the long-standing but greatly altered building we see today
NOTES
1. “Church Street Fire Does Damage of $1,500,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 7th, 1931, 8.
2. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), May 28th, 1883, 3.
“Big Business Transfer,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 16th, 1912, 8.
3. “City News,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 15th,1913, 8.
Paul Pry, “Who’s Who In Burlington,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), August, 17th 1917, 10.
4. “City News,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 24th, 1924, 8.
“City News,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), April 22nd, 1931, 10.
5. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), January 26th, 1986, 17.
6. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 1st, 1882, 4
7. Advertisement, The Burlington Courier (Burlington, VT), July 1st, 1852, 3.
8. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), May 2nd, 1903, 5.
9. “City News,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), November 11th, 1911, 8.
Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 16th, 1933, 9.
10. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 15th, 1935, 8.
“Howard Nat’l Will Expand Into Adjoining Church St. Building,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 14th, 1940, 5.
“Fire Ruins Three-Story Wooden Flynn Est. Bldg. on Church St.,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October, 23rd, 1943. Pg. 9.
97 / 97 ½ Church Street
This small 2 1/2-story white clapboarded single storefront commercial wooden structure with Italianate detailing [Fig. 15] is another with a long structural and business history on Church Street. Like its wooden neighbors to its south, it's evidenced on the 1830 Ammi B. Young map and it’s indicated as the business of Miss Kennedy on the 1862 Burlington Map. Kennedy’s millinery store is advertised in the Burlington Free Press through the 1880s, when a particular advertisement seems to indicate a going out of business sale.1 Perhaps it’s no surprise to learn that in her place, jeweler-watchmaker-optician A.D. Bristol occupied the space until 1902, in direct competition with his next-door neighbors. Syrian native Demetrius Nour briefly operated an Oriental Rug Store here, before it reverted to the block’s familiar formula under R.W. Parish, Jeweler-Optician, until the late 20s.2 The location was then converted to a clothing store and had several incarnations during the 30s and early 40s.3 Curiously and perhaps coincidentally, this location was the temporary headquarters for a Republican mayoral candidate in 1941 between clothing stores and held another political post for the Democratic Party City Headquarters just two years later, before another jeweler Ralph Van Gelder moved in later in 1943.4 He would stay for eleven years before relocating to Florida.5 A child and adolescent clothing store occupied thereafter, strangely recycling the tagline “Exclusive but not Expensive” of the 1930s occupant.6 Whether it still resonated in the community consciousness or was a simple historic homage by the current tenant, or perhaps sheer coincidence, we’ll never know. The building housed - yet again - a jeweler, Fremeau’s, who was seeking temporary tenancy in 1974 after a fire in their building further north on Church Street, and would house more clothing establishments until 1986, when – yet again – a Republican campaign temporarily had an office here, this time for Lieutenant Governor.7 Throughout much of this street-level storefront shuffle, the second story would be occupied by various barbers and hair salons. Local entrepreneur and clothing designer April Cornell would purchase the property in 1993, convert the upstairs to an apartment, and make the street front her flagship clothing store, before moving a few doors north several years later, after which an upscale off-shoot of her brand, Kit Cornell, occupied the space.8 Garcia’s Tobacco Store would move in 2007 as the first new use of this building since the first Republican headquarters in the 1940s. They occupy it to this day.
Sometime in the 1890s the exterior staircase accessing the second floor was closed in, connecting it to 99-101 Church; today this access to the second-story apartment is 97½.9 Other than this, photographic evidence from the 1880s shows a similar building to what we see today, as seen in Fig. 13 - a light clapboard exterior with a bracketed cornice - excepting the fenestration changes made on the second floor. Sometime between the late 1950s and late 1960s, the two second floor windows were replaced with one large central bay window, as seen im Fig. 16. The building as it appears today contained a second story band of three sash windows, topped by a segmentally arched tripartite window of the same width. The combination of the two creates an allusion to the grand arched windows of the Howard Opera House to its north.
NOTES
1. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 24th, 1888, 6.
2. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 31st, 1903, 8.
“New Jewelry Store,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), June 6th, 1904, 7.
3. “New Smart Shop Opens On Thursday,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), May 20th, 1929, pg.9.
Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), May 26th, 1933, 9.
Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 14th, 1941. Pg.8
4. “Brisbin-for-Mayor Club Establishes Its Headquarters,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 11th, 1941, 9.
“Democratic City Hdqts. Opened On Church St.,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 16th, 1943, 7.
“Local Briefs,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), May 13th, 1943, 14.
5. “Ralph Van Gelder, Purchases Jewelry Store in Florida,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 23rd, 1954, 9.
6. “‘Young Land,’ Children’s Store, Open on Church St.,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), June 19th, 1954, 13.
Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 16th 1961, 3.
“‘Disaster’ Label Asked For Church Street Fire,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), August 3rd, 1974, 12.
Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), May 29th, 1986, 10.
“Smith To Open Office,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 29th, 1986, 10.
8. “Local Real Estate Transactions,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 6th, 1993, 31.
“Retail Roundup,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 4th, 1997, 5.
“New Stores In Burlington,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 20th, 1999, 5.
9. Sanborn Map Company, Burlington 1900, Sheet 21, [map]. (New York: Sanborn Map Company), accessed September 15th, 2018, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, https://cdi.uvm.edu/image/uvmcdi-86456
93 Church Street
The building at the current address 93 Church Street represents a visual break from the rest of the block. Historically referred to as 95 Church Street, this building is structurally, architecturally and historically tied to the Howard Opera House [Fig. 17]. Built within a year of the Howard Opera House and designed by the same architect, this four-story Italianate commercial building is complementary of the adjacent Opera House, leading to an article declaring that it “adjoins and practically forms a part of the Howard Block.”1 It was originally built for the Burritt Brothers, who operated a drug store out of it from its construction through the 1880s. Although a ground-glass globe inscribed with “Burritt Bros.” over the entrance is long since gone, you can still detect the presence of the original tenants by the stylized “B” in each upper story window lintel [Fig. 18].2 Even after the Burritt Bros. vacated, the location continued on as a pharmacy under the proprietorship of George LaFountain with the name “Opera House Pharmacy,” clearly playing up its close proximity, and later by George Churchill, who had previously run a Rutland drug store for eight years, and who would take over in the 1896 and would operate there continuously until the 1920s. 3 An advertisement for his business on the south side of the building can be detected in Fig. 13. It would be another pharmacy owner and Rutland native who would buy his business. In 1927, a newly incorporated firm Soda Luncheonettes, Inc., formed by three local businessmen including Hyman Abraham of Abraham’s Pharmacy at the end of the same block, to buy Churchill’s store, discontinue the tobacco and drug lines and operate it as a luncheonette. Not only did they obtain the lease but also the entire stock of pharmaceuticals and equipment. Extensive alterations were made for the conversion and an addition to house part of the kitchen as added to the rear.4 The luncheonette would continue until 1938, when the whole building, which was indeed still owned by druggist George Churchill, was sold to David Stollman of Plattsburgh, NY, who opened his third ladies’ dress shop.5 The store was remodeled and a large plate-glass-and-aluminum storefront that was 15 feet deep was added.6 Stollman’s would operate there for fifteen years before moving to be replaced by Bernsol’s, a dress shop also owned and designed by David and his son Soloman.7 Bernsol’s would endure until 1972 but Stollman would continue business in St. Albans for years after.8 During Stollman’s tenancy, Burlington Savings Bank would purchase the building and install a walk-up teller at the storefront.9 This acquisition would coincide with the clearing out of the interior of the block for a drive-up teller service at the back of their 86 St. Paul main location. These bold advertisements on the building, with large swooping arrows pointing drivers and pedestrians to their respective locations, can be seen in Fig. 16. In the 1970s and 80s Magram’s would house their department store’s Children’s Shop in this location, effectively making it part of the former Opera House. As Magram’s business began to falter in the 1980s, the owners sold the buildings to local developers Nord Brue and Michael Dressell in 1989.10 They had founded Bruegger’s Bagels in Troy, NY earlier in the decade and intended to use the location as their hometown bagel shop.11 They would use the rear 19th century warehouse as a production facility for the store.12 This downtown Bruegger’s would operate until its closing in December 2017.13 The location is slated to be occupied by Burlington Bagel Bakery, a local bagel shop founded in Burlington in 1979 by Roy Feldman which pre-dates the existence of Bruegger’s.14
NOTES
1. “A Palatial Drug Store,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 17th, 1878, 3.
2. Ibid.
3. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 7th, 1891, 8.
4. “Local Drug Store To Become Eating Place,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 19th, 1927, 8
5. “Dress Goods Store To Be Opened Here By Plattsburg Man,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 3rd, 1938, pg 10.
6. “Dress Shop Opens in Remodeled Quarters Today,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 15th, 1938, 5.
7. “New Dress Shop to Open in October at 95 Church Street,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), August 31st, 1953, 9.
8. Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 6th, 1972, 5.
9. “Local News Events During 1952 Presented In Summary by Dates,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), January 1st, 1953, 4.
10. “Magrams Sells Its Old Home,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), August 13th, 1989, 1.
11. “Bruegger’s Comes Home,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 4th, 1989, 37.
12. National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Church Street Historic District, Chittenden County, Vermont. Burlington, VT: Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, 2010, 82.
13. “Bruegger’s on Church Street Closes,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 12th, 2017, A2.
14. “Bagels coming back to Church Street,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), August 2nd, 2018, A14.
A Brief History of John Purple Howard
John Purple Howard, born in 1814, was the fifth child of John and Hannah Howard. His father, a descendent of Roger Williams, had come from Providence, Rhode Island, and his mother Bristol, Massachusetts. The elder John Howard would become well-known in Burlington as a landlord of “one of the best and most popular hotels in Burlington for many years.”1 His oldest brother, Sion Earl, was also a successful Burlington merchant. It would be in the hotel business that John Purple would make his fortune. The younger John would leave Burlington at the age of fifteen to join his elder brother Daniel Dyer, who at the time was in charge of the Exchange Hotel in New York City. They would later arrange for the 20-year lease of a block of buildings close by to City Hall Park on Broadway and transform it into a popular hotel, the Irving House, which they operated for some years and amassing their fortunes.2 John Purple retired from the business in 1852 and set his remaining years to the pursuit of travel and public philanthropy. A local judge claimed: “Mr. Howard, as I have said, has travelled long and far. He has crossed the ocean over twenty-five times and extended his journeyings through South America, and under the pyramids in Egypt, and in other foreign lands, but I believe he would still say of his boyhood home… ‘Where’er I roam whatever reams to see, my heart, untraveled, fondly turns to thee.’”3 Although he would never yet again return to Burlington to live, his benefactions throughout the city would make him a famous and respected man in this town. Although he was not educated in any formal way, he would make multiple gifts to the University of Vermont. Beginning in 1881 with a gift of $50,000 to chair of natural history, he gave another $50,000 the following year for the remodeling and reconstruction of the old college building, in 1883 erecting a statue of French nobleman and Revolutionary War soldier Marquis de Lafayette on the college green which stands to this day, and 1884 saw him giving a gift for the construction of a new building for the Medical Department.4 It’s no surprise that a large bust of John P. Howard still occupies the center niche of the Old Mill building, seen in Fig. 19. Among his other gifts were to his boyhood church, St. Paul’s Episcopal, a $10,000 grant in 1880 for the construction of a new chapel.5 Perhaps his most generous and enduring gift, however, was the construction of the Howard Opera House, which we will turn our attention to next. John Purple Howard died in England in 1885 but was returned to his hometown for burial and although he never married or had any children, his munificent gifts about his hometown have ensured his legacy since and for years to come.6
NOTES
1. Louise Maxine Varisco, “Family History of William Howard and Patience Dyer,” accessed September, 19th 2018, http://www.ahjur.org/louise/howard.html
2. W.S. Rann. History of Chittenden County, Vermont. (Chittenden County, Vermont: 1886), 437-8.
3. “The Howard Opera House,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 4th, 1879, 3.
4. W.S. Rann. History of Chittenden County, Vermont. (Chittenden County, Vermont: 1886), 203-7, 245.
5. “Two Handsome Gifts,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 30th, 1880, 3.
6. Louise Maxine Varisco, “Family History of William Howard and Patience Dyer,” accessed September, 19th 2018, http://www.ahjur.org/louise/howard.html
The Howard Opera House
By far the largest, grandest and most imposing structure on this block is the former Howard Opera House, occupying a large lot on the corner of College and Bank Streets [Fig. 20]. Built in a Renaissance Revival style with Italianate influences, the building is massive, and it surely dominated the streetscape upon its construction and is still a prominent structure on Church Street. Its Church Street façade consists of five large arched bays, each three windows wide and culminating in three-window arch, separated by brick pilasters. Beneath each bay is separate retail location and lining the parapet is a green cornice, adorned with masks and horns, attesting to its original use. The Bank Street façade, which was the Opera House’s formal entrance, consists of two similar bays flanking a taller bay which once displayed the building’s name. To the west of this tripartite arrangement is another thinner and taller section with two arched entrances which served as the formal entrance to Opera House. To the west is an Italianate commercial building of three stories connected to the Opera House.
Before delving too deeply into the history of the building that now occupies the site, let’s discuss what preceded it. The 1830 Ammi B. Young map shows a prominent building on the corner and a smaller one to the south. In the smaller building, which roughly occupied what is now 93 Church Street, Sion E. Howard, older brother of John Purple Howard, had a dry goods store as early as 1830 and what is purported to the town’s first cash store, in a small, white two-story building. In between these structures was a garden. Sion’s residence was just a short walk away, located on the corner St. Paul and Bank Streets.1 Whether Sion owned this entire section of the block is unclear, but the 1869 Burlington map makes clear that by this time his younger brother John P. Howard is the owner of this plot.2 Sion passed in 1866 and it’s possible that his brother inherited or bought the property upon his passing.3 This corner’s prominence is confirmed by the 1853 and 1862 maps that show this corner building as the site of the Bank of Burlington. This bank likely occupied this site from 1820s before its relocation in 1867, after constructing the elegant stone building on the northeast corner of Church and College which still stands. In 1869 the eastern half of the building was being used as tailor’s shop, which the western half was a dwelling.4Luckily, we have a stereo-view, seen in Fig. 21, from the 1860s or 70s that gives us a glimpse into what this building looked like. We see a squarish two-story brick commercial building with a string course framing three arched bays, the center containing the main entrance. Second story contains three rectangular windows and the building is topped by a wooden balustrade. It looks largely undetailed but retains a classical feel similar to that of the building that would soon replace it.
The Howard Opera House was funded by John Purple Howard at a cost of $100,000 and designed by noted New York City architect, Stephen Decatur Hatch, originally from Swanton, Vermont, who also designed 93 Church Street, the Italianate building attached to the Howard Opera House’s southern side. It seems that Mr. Howard desired in his last years to build a significant public building for his hometown and judging by its location on the long-time property of his elder brother Sion’s business, it was much a remembrance of his family’s presence in the city as it was for himself. It’s not for nothing that his well-known father was referred to as “Uncle” John Howard by the Burlington community.5 With the limitations of the assembly hall in the old City Hall now being felt by Burlington’s growing population, Howard recognized the need for suitable and ample music hall.6 He must have also felt the need not to disrupt the economic heart of the city, as the four-story structure was designed to have stores fronting Church Street on the ground level and the theater, accessed by an entrance on Bank Street, occupied fully the upper three stories. Construction began in November 1877 and was hailed as the “most massive and substantial ever laid in this city”, assuring that “the style will excel anything of the kind in Burlington.”7 Construction was completed in February of 1879 and the Burlington Free Press proudly proclaimed that “a more tasteful and elegant music hall is possessed by no American city.”8 The structure certainly was larger than any building in Burlington at the time, 175 feet long and 70 wide, and rising 65 feet above the street level and at the time of its construction had hipped roof, painted bright red, rising 20 feet further. The theatre itself occupied much of this volume being 129 feet in length, 76 in width, 40 in height and seating between 1300 and 1400 patrons.9 Perhaps the laudatory tone of the local papers is best understood by reading the article and visual understanding by examining a photo [Fig 24], but it’s important to note that this building was intended to be a wholly modern one in style and systems, as its commercial block-cum-public space is a fresh idea in American architecture and the interior was gas lit by extensive system of lamp and heated by steam.10
The perceived importance of it is also attested to by the fact that local merchants were interested in occupying the space during the course of construction, and judging from the stability afforded to many of the businesses located within this block, its importance as an economic hub is clear.11 In the first quarter century of its existence, the street level housed many tenants including the dry goods store Lyman & Allen, who had been established on Church Street since the 1868, clothiers, Smith & Pease, whose “Blue Store” was founded as early as 1875 and dry goods store the Old Bee Hive, founded in 1855.12 All these stores occupied other locations on Church Street and chose to occupy this newly constructed and evidently desirable location. The largeness of the building seemed suited dry goods and department stores and many businesses have had remarkably long tenures in the Opera House’s shops.
During this time, John Purple Howard was unwilling to let any of this property go to waste and built another commercial building just west of the Opera House in 1880. A simple brick Italianate structure of three stories, it originally had two stores fronting Bank Street with tenements above.13 Sometime between 1912 and 1919, the small amount of space separating this block from the Opera House was finally infilled [Fig. 25].14 While the style is consistent, this is evident today not only by the break in rhythm of the fenestration on the street façade but most clearly by the difference in sills and lintels on these windows: the original windows have ones made of stone, while the infilled windows have ones of concrete, as seen in Fig. 26.
The most remarkable aspect of this building’s early history however, is that, after his death, John P. Howard willed the entire structure to the Home of Destitute Children.15 This way the Home, which had struggled financially in the past and had previously been the recipients of financial gifts from Howard and his sister Louisa, would be able to have steady financial footing from the revenues of the Opera House and the rents from the stores' tenants. It was a remarkable gesture at the end of Mr. Howard’s life. It’s worth noting that the Home for Destitute Children is the predecessor of today’s Howard Center, a non-profit providing mental health, disability and substance abuse services for adults, children and families in Burlington and its environs, and is aptly named in honor of his family’s generosity.16
The Howard Opera House’s life as an Opera House only last a quarter of a century. Due to rising fire insurance rates on the structure during the 1890s, the Opera House was forced to stage its last performance on November 30th, 1904.17 The theatre’s closing opened up an incredible amount of volume in the building for new commercial ventures and by the spring interior girders were in place and sleepers being laid to divide up the former theatre into more useful space.18 Shortly thereafter the building’s once distinctive red roof was removed and replaced with a flat roof like the one we see today [Fig. 23].19 This extra space several stores to expand upwards. The Old Bee Hive was tripled in size, W.G. Reynolds, successor to Lyman & Allen occupying the corner spot became one of “the largest of its kind in New England outside the big cities,” and E.E. Clarkson’s dry goods store added tailoring and millinery departments.20 All these firms, in addition to the Blue Store, would remain occupying the former Opera House for decades to come.21 One particularly fateful change in business would alter the building significantly. In 1943, Barney Magram would become a partner in The Fashion Shop, founded in 1914 by Max Glass, and move it from 52 Church to W.G. Reynold’s vacated corner sport. After rising to sole owner in 1952, Barney would add his surname to the business and over the next 40 years the Magram's name would become synonymous with the Howard Opera House. Barney passed in 1969, after which his son-in-law and successor Murray Daitchman expanded the store to 55,000 square feet within the old Opera House.22 We can see in Fig. 27 that he also set about to completely overhaul the façade, creating simple arcade of travertine marble around the ground level of the building.23 The store at its height would cover 90,000 square feet within the building and was a commercial landmark in the city.
The contraction of the business coinciding with the advent of the Church Street Marketplace and competition from other department stores would eventually lead Magram’s, who had owned the building, to sell it off in 1989 to two local businessmen, Nord Brue and Michael Dressell, founders of Breugger’s Bagels. As mentioned earlier, they would open up a bagel shop in 95 Church Street, while Magram’s would consolidate their business to the two bottom floors, while Dressel used the rest as administrative space for Bruegger’s and his other companies.24 Magram’s downsizing was foretelling of its fate, but it’s ultimate closing in January 1991 opened the door for the new owners to rethink the space and they did so in historical terms. A 9-month, 5-million-dollar renovation replaced Magram’s wrap-around white arcade and crafted a more historically accurate façade with separate store fronts with iron cornices facing Church Street [Fig. 28].25 The building looked historically more cohesive than it had in years and this has persisted to this day, as has the original arrangement of five distinct store fronts, coupled with office space in the upper floors, occupying the space of the building’s long-gone namesake, the Howard Opera House.
NOTES
1. W.S. Rann. History of Chittenden County, Vermont. (Chittenden County, Vermont: 1886), 421-7.
2. W. Beers, A. D. Ellis & G. G. Soule, Plan for the City of Burlington, Chittenden Co., Vt. [Map]. (New York: 1869), accessed November 10th, 2018, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, http://cdi.uvm.edu/image/uvmcdi-115
3. Louise Maxine Varisco, “Family History of William Howard and Patience Dyer,” accessed September 19th, 2018, http://www.ahjur.org/louise/howard.html
4. Sanborn Map Company, Burlington 1869, Sheet 02. [map]. (New York: Sanborn Map Company), accessed October 10th, 2018, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, https://cdi.uvm.edu/image/uvmcdi-86361
5. “The Howard Opera House,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 21st, 1879, 3.
6. Ibid.
7.
“Howard Block.,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), November 17th, 1877, 3.
8. “The Howard Opera House,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 21st, 1879, 3.
9. Ibid.
10. “Howard Block.,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), November 17th, 1877, 3.
11. “The New Howard Block and Opera House,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 22nd, 1878, 3.
12. “Burlington and Vicinity,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 22nd, 1868, pg 4.
Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 13th, 1875, 4.
Burlington City Directory and Business Advertiser. (Burlington, VT: The Free Press Association, 1879)
13. “Mr. Howard’s New Block,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 13th, 1880, 3.
14. Sanborn Map Company, Burlington 1919, Sheet 16. [map]. (New York: Sanborn Map Company), accessed October 10th, 2018, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, https://cdi.uvm.edu/image/uvmcdi-86324
15. “John P. Howard,” The Burlington Independent (Burlington, VT), October 30th, 1885, 4.
16. “About Howard Center,” accessed October 22nd, 2018, http://howardcenter.org/about-us/about-howard-center/
17. “A $100,000 Opera House,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), June 3rd, 1896, 1.
“Amusements,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), November 30th, 1904, 6.
18. “Will Not Be Reopened.,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), February 2nd, 1905, 7.
“City and Vicinity,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), April 15th, 1905, 12.
19. “City and Vicinity,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 19th, 1905, 12.
20. “New Departments,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), March 3rd, 1905, 8.
“Death of W.G. Reynolds,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 14th, 1908, 8.
Advertisement, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), April 6th, 1905, 8.
21. Manning’s Burlington Winooski and Essex Junction Directory. (Springfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1930)
Manning’s Burlington South Burlington Winooski and Essex Junction Directory. (Greenfield, MA: H.A. Manning Co., 1961)
22. “Magrams Consolidates To Save,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), August 13th, 1989, 4.
23. “Operation Facelift,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), December 12th,1974, 22.
24. “Bruegger’s Comes Home,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), September 4th, 1989, 37.
25. “Opera House Sounds New Era,” The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), October 24th, 1991, 6.
FIGURE CITATIONS
Fig. 0: Custom Map drawn by the author.
Fig. 1: Ammi B. Young, Plan of Burlington Village. [map] Burlington, Vermont: 1830. Accessed through Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, 10/8/2018, http://cdi.uvm.edu/image/uvmcdi-113.
Fig. 2: Photograph by the author, taken September 18th, 2018.
Fig. 3: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 1, Folder 06, Item 51. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 4: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 1, Folder 01, Item 05. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 5: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 1, Folder 01, Item 06. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 6: Photograph by the author, taken November 28th, 2018.
Fig. 7: Photograph by the author, taken September 30th, 2018.
Fig. 8: “Operation Facelift,” Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), August 17th, 1966, 12.
Fig. 9: Photograph by the author, taken September 30th, 2018.
Fig. 10: Photograph by the author, taken September 18th, 2018.
Fig. 11: “Business Directory,” Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT), July 6th, 1882, 1.
Fig. 12: Photograph by the author, taken September 18th, 2018.
Fig. 13: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 2, Folder 20, Item 06. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 14: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 2, Folder 17, Item 05. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 15. Photograph by the author, taken September 18th, 2018.
Fig. 16: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 2, Folder 19, Item 57. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 17: Photograph by the author, taken September 18th, 2018.
Fig. 18: Photograph by the author, taken September 18th, 2018.
Fig. 19: Photograph by the author, taken November 5th, 2018.
Fig. 20: Photograph by the author, taken September 30th, 2018.
Fig. 21: Church Street North from Bank Street. University of Vermont: Landscape Change Program. http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/
Fig. 22: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 1, Folder 06, Item 05. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 23: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 12, Folder 20, Item 15. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 24: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 1, Folder 29, Item 02. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 25: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 2, Folder 19, Item 65. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 26: Photograph by the author, taken November 7th, 2018.
Fig. 27: Burlington, Vermont Photograph Collection, Box 1, Folder 29, Item 01. Special Collections, University of Vermont.
Fig. 28: Photograph by the author, taken September 18th, 2018.