Weinmann Block

The Weinmann Block, whose two sections were built a few years apart by the Welnmanns to serve the family's butcher shop business, Is significant as one of Ann Arbor's most notable and best preserved Late Victorian commercial blocks. The facade of the structure's western halt Is notable as a tine example of the metal-front building technology that was at the height of Its popularity In Michigan between 1885 and 1910. John M. Weinmann, for whom the earlier part of this block was constructed, was born In Germany In 1836 and came to Ann Arbor as a young man. In 1863 he married Dorothea Stein and set up his butcher shop. During the 1880s the corner building was erected and occupied on the grade floor by Weinmann and Gail Meats. In 1891 Weinmann's son, Louis c. Weinmann, and a nephew, George. Stein, formed a partnership to carry on the business, and construction was begun on the more westerly structure. It served as the Welnmann-Gelsendorfer meat market until 1937. The corner building was purchased by v. Schneider In 1894 and continued In commercial use, housing a confectionary and saloon as well as the plumbing business of Emanuel L. and William R. Schneider. Between 1892 and 1917 a wood and brick masonry structure was added to the rear of the Weinmann building to handle meats and cold storage. Remnants of the operation, Including a steel ceiling runner for meat hooks and a floor blood pit, still remain. In 1917, however, tire struck this addition and the Interior burned, fueled by walls Insu lat ed with sawdust. Existing c;:harred studs and beams are a present reminder of this tire. The building's first floors were occupied by the Conley Produce Company In 1931 and by the Lee and Cady Grocery In 1932. The Jno. c. Fischer Company purchased the entire Weinmann Block from Louise F. Weinmann and opened their hardware store In It In March 1937. Fischer got his start In the hardware business In 1895 as an employee of the Eberbach Hardware Company located at Washington and Main streets. Four years later he bought the Harkens Hardware Company, and soon after that the State Savings Bank asked him to take over the Eberbach Hardware and put It back on Its teet. He comb I ned the two busInesses under the name of the Jno. c. Fischer Company. Interestingly 'enough, It was the expansion of the State Savings Bank to the corner of Washington and Main which brought about the move of the Jno. c. Fischer Company Into the Weinmann Block. In 1954 the Ann Arbor Building Inspection Depa rtment, the City Planning Commission, and the Parks and Recreation Commission moved Into the block's upper floor. It was probably soon af ter this that the cornice was removed in response to a city emergency cornice removal law. Fischer Hardware, an Institution In downtown Ann Arbor, was sold several times In recent years, and, In May, 1982, th~ hardware store moved out of the Weinmann Block and the Ann Arbor business district to a suburban location. · ~ deve.lopment partnership bought the vacant Weinmann Block In June, 1982 and has carried out a major renovation of the structure for retail sales and office use.

Facing south on East Washington Street at the northwest corner of North Fifth Avenue In Ann Arbor's central business district, the Weinmann Block consists of two, two-story, brick, Late Victorian commercial blocks which, located side by side, have had a common Interior tor many years. The block's eastern or street-corner section Is a three-bay wide, ltal lanate commercial structure built In the mld-1880s, while the broader western portion, built In 1892, has an elaborate, Late Victorian, galvanized iron facade. The block has brick masonry load-bearing wal Is and timber Interior framing. The older corner section of the block Is three bays wide In front and five bays wldd on the side, the bays being defined by a series of vertical brick piers or pilasters. Originally the building was crowned by an elaborate, bracketed, wooden cornice. This was removed in the 1950s; however, a new wooden cornice, duplicating as much as posslb le the appearance of the old, was Installed in 1982 as part of a general rehabilitation of the entire block. The building has squa r e-head, double-hung, sash windows topped by rounded caps In front and by segmental-arch caps In the side wall. The original storefr ont consisted of a central double door flanked on either side by large windows. Although this storefront has been rebuilt several times, the masonry piers at each end of the opening have remained Intact. In the most recent rehabilitation (1982), the wooden storefront cornice was restored. The western portion of the Weinmann Block was built In 1892. Although the first-floor storefront has been remodeled several times, It retains Its original configuration of openings and windows, with a broad, recessed entrance to the main floor In the center of the facade and a narrower entrance to the secooo-floor staircase at the west (lett -hand) end. The upper part of the west section's facade has never been altered and Is of galvanized iron construction. Designed to give the appearance of masonry construction, It Is divided Into a broad central bay--capped by a pediment bearing the name of the bu i lding and date of construction--and a slightly narrower bay on each side. The highly elaborate decorative scheme Inc ludes Rlchardsonlan Romanesque, Neo-Grec, Queen Anne, and Renaissance Revival elements. The Weinmann Block is currently undergoing a major renovation which has Included the reconstruction of the storefronts, restoration of the cornices of the eastern portion, aoo rehabilitation of the Interior for rental office and commercial uses.