New Penobscot Building

140-150 West Congress – New Penobscot Building – Steel-frame twenty-four-story skyscraper faced with granite and terra cotta (1916). Donaldson & Meier architects. Fronting eighty feet on West Congress Street, this second phase of the Penobscot Building was constructed as the New Penobscot Building. It extends back from West Congress to meet the original Penobscot Building on West Fort Street at the alley. The West Congress and eastern (alley) facades display a Renaissance-inspired decorative scheme. The street front is faced in gray unpolished granite in the five-story base and in light-hued terra cotta in similar coursed ashlar finish (but smaller blocks) above. The lower part of the façade contains broad triple windows, some with transoms. The side and upper front facades contain vertical banks of paired double-hung windows. A tall attic is capped with a projecting cornice with boldly oversized brackets and modillions and a dentil band. The West Congress entrance is located between two retail spaces’ display windows and, inside, retail shops line the Congress level entrance hallway. The upper four stories are delineated from the others by running bands of terra cotta, blind reliefs, corbelled details and the cornice. The roof is flat. The western building façade (alley façade) is faced in yellow common brick. The western façade is divided by a light court that allows for additional corner offices and greater ventilation. The building retains its original wood double hung windows.