B and C Grocery Building
Historic Photo, sourced from the National Register of Historic Places filing
B and C Grocery Building — historic photograph, 1939 Henry Kohner, Inc.; Henry Kohner, National Register of Historic Places filing, Detroit
National Register of Historic Places Filing
Constructed in 1939-40 to house one of the stores of the local B & C Grocery chain, founded in the early 1920s by Max Bachman and Peter Chodoroff, the B & C Grocery Building is significant in architectural terms for its newly restored Art Deco/Moderne facade, a fine example of the porcelain enameled metal panel architecture of the 1930s-early 1950s in Royal Oak and the metropolitan Detroit region.
Physical Description
The B & C Grocery Building is a one-story arch-roof red brick commercial building with an eye-catching, broad and low Art Deco front faced in Macotta porcelain enamel metal panels backed in concrete. Low stepped 'gables' rise above double-door entries near the center of each half of the facade, and the shiny metal doors and windows together form a band extending entirely across the facade. The primary color of the enameled metal panel storefront piers and upper facade is pale yellow, but vertical and horizontal striping and portal zones above the entrances and extending into the stepped gables are accented in salmon and deep burgundy hues and the storefront window bulkheads are also deep burgundy in color. The building stands at the intersection of two streets and displays an angled corner containing a third, recessed entrance. Originally housing the B & C Grocery and a small leased store space at the corner by the intersection, the building now contains a restaurant, wine bar and shop, coffee house, and club in the main and basement levels.
Architect/Builder
Henry Kohner, Inc.; Henry Kohner
NRHP Ref# 06000149 • Data from National Park Service • Content available under CC BY-SA 4.0
Historic Photos
(4)Sourced from the National Register of Historic Places filing
B and C Grocery Building — B and C Grocery Building — historic photograph, 1939 Henry Kohner, Inc.; Henry Kohner, National Register of Historic Places filing, Detroit
Public Domain (Michigan filing for National Register of Historic Places)
From Wikipedia
The B and C Grocery Building is a commercial building located at 417-19 South Main Street in Royal Oak, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
History Joseph Chodoroff, Peter Chodoroff, and Max Bachman established the Bachman & Chodoroff grocery on Oakland Avenue in Detroit in the early 1920s. By 1930, the store had developed into a chain, with two stores in Detroit and two in Royal Oak. In 1939, B & C hired the Detroit firm of Henry Kohner, Inc to design this building. Construction began in 1939, and was finished in 1940. By 1950, two other stores opened in Berkley and Clawson, and by 1954 the two Detroit stores were closed. Daisy Warren Roberts (1916-2012), a Royal Oak resident, began working as a clerk at the B & C in the early 1930s. The owners paid her tuition for accounting school and she became the bookkeeper for the company and remained in that position through the mid-1950s. When the building was purchased and remodeled into a restaurant in the early 2000s, the owner contacted Daisy and invited her to give a short speech at the grand opening, to which she happily obliged. The B & C Grocery closed in the 1960s, after which the building housed offices, a cardio-pulmonary clinic, and a sporting goods store. In about 1970, the Art Moderne panels were hidden behind a new facade. The building was purchased in 2003 by 2mission, who rehabilitated the building. completing it in 2006. Five new tenants were placed in the building, including a restaurant and wine bar.
Description The B & C Grocery Building is a one-story red brick commercial building with a broad and low Art Deco front, faced in Macotta porcelain enamel metal panels, colored pail yellow with salmon and burgundy accents. Shiny metal doors and windows create a band across the building. Low stepped "gables" are placed above the two double-door entries; a third entry is angled on the corner of the building. The B & C Grocery was the first supermarket to ever have a soda fountain and the first privately owned chain of supermarkets in the U.S. in the 1940s.
See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Oakland County, Michigan
References
Content available under CC BY-SA 4.0
Building Details
- Architect
- Henry Kohner, Inc.; Henry Kohner
- Year Built
- 1939
- National Register
- Listed 2006
- Ref# 06000149