Built in 1937, Birmingham's S. H. Kress Five-and-Ten Cent Store was the second completed of the three great mercantile buildings on this intersection. Its construction reflected Kress's confidence in Birmingham's economy and marked a break by its chief architect, Edward F. Sibbert, with prior architectural traditions by incorporating Bauhaus, Streamline Moderne and the emerging International Style influences into the creamy mottled terra-cotta and steel-framed structure.
Thriving through the Second World War and into the early 1960's as part of Birmingham's historic retail and theatre district, the company's downtown fortunes began to diminish as activity and population moved toward the suburbs and into newer forms of retail development. The store was closed in 1978, and the building was added to the National Register in 1982.
The Kress Building was acquired in 2003 by the shareholders of the law firm of Wiggins, Childs, Quinn and Pantazis, P.C. After a complete restoration of the building and its historic features in 2003 and 2004, the Kress Building once again has regained the vibrant and significant presence it once enjoyed.
Kress, LCC Founding ShareholdersRobert L. Wiggins, Jr. · Robert F. Childs, Jr. · C. Michael Quinn · Dennis G. Pantazis · Richard J. Ebbinghouse · Ann K. Wiggins · Samuel Fisher · Ann C. Roberterson · Joseph H. Calvin III · Deborah A. Mattison · Timothy B. Fleming · Jon C. Goldfarb · Gregory O. Wiggins · Rocco Calamusa · Brian M. Clark · Russell W. Adams · Barry V. Frederick
Kress Building Restoration Team
Architectural and Design: Tammy Cohen and Stan Corson of Cohen & Company
Developer and Project Coordinator: John Lauriello and Julie Gieger of Southpace Properties, Inc.
General Contractor: Andy Anderson and Charles Ferlist of Charles & Vinzant
Preservation Consultant: Linda Nelson of FuturePast
Samuel H. Frazier, Attorney-At-Law
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