artistic-front commercial building
As neighborhoods became settled and filled up with cottages, bungalows, and multifamily buildings, the increase in population and automobiles gave rise to a new kind of secondary business district. It was located within walking distance or within mass transit connections of a neighborhood or on the boundary between two neighborhoods where access by car was necessary. This kind of enterprise was a grouping of stores that offered a wide variety of goods and services. The stores were usually physically connected, so that utilities and facade treatments could be integrated. The major period for this development seems to have been the 1920s, although there were examples of shopping areas built before and long after that decade. They were referred to as artistic designs, based on their unusual appearances, which derived from the use of architectural details as attention-getting devices. Photo from Westfield, New Jersey, 2020. (Gottfried & Jennings, 1985)
Photo from Suffern, New York, 2024.