| Building
Code |
574.D.7 |
Construction
Date |
ca. 1890 |
| Origins |
Steel's Drug
Store |
Description
|
The
Higginbotham
Drug Store Building occupies a central place in a
strip
of brick-fronted buildings, most constructed in the 1890’s, that
line the
west side of Seventh Avenue at the heart of Virden’s Heritage
District. |
Heritage
Value
|
The
Higginbotham
Drug Store Building, dating from before 1891, is
valued
for its connection to the John Higgenbotham family and their Drug Store
business,
which spanned four generations and eight decades. Mr. Higgenbotham,
whose
earlier building on Nelson Street burned down, bought this modest
building,
with its restrained Romanesque-Revival features, from Mr. Steel, also a
druggist
in 1896.
|
Character
Defining
Elements |
Key elements
that
define the exterior heritage character of the
Higginbotham
Drug Store Building include:
- it rectangular business-block form
- its brick-faced façade with a complex corbel table and subtle
quoins.
- its pleasant window treatment that includes round-arched windows with
artfully
constructed brick dripmoulds and capstones.
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Higginbotham
Drug
Store Building interior include:
- some original woodwork and detailing on the main level
- a vacant second floor residence left largely in its original form and
a
large basement with stone walls – veneered with some of the first
brick manufactured
in Virden. |
| Site
History |
Formerly
on This
Site:
Century Pizza before Echo Books
(2009)
Higgenbotham's Drug Store
Origins – Mr. Steele bought out Dr. Gemmill’s supply of
drugs and set up
here prior to 1891
Bought by John Higgenbotham in 1896. At that time it was Steele’s
Drug store.
In the family as a drug store for at least 4 generations. Appears in an
1891
photo. |
| Additional
Information |
Click Here to
contribute your comments, corrections, stories and photos:
|
|
Portage LaPrairie Weekly Nov. 4 1891
|
