Kress Buildings

	Art Deco

(hit "refresh" to get the most recent version of this page; click on photos for larger images)

KRESS STORES (page 1)

S.H. Kress & Co. was founded by Samuel Kress in 1896. They built over 250 five-and-dime stores in 29 states between 1896 and 1955. Samuel Kress was an art collector and took pride in creating beautiful buildings. Although many of the buildings shown here are not Art Deco, I include them for the sake of keeping them all together.

Kress Salisbury, NC

The Salisbury Kress was built in 1910 and was the first air-conditioned building in town. This building design was typical of Kress' "yellow brick" stores. It is believed to have been store #221 of the chain. It was restored (bottom photo) and is now known as "Kress Plaza" with office, retail, and residential space. [top photo at left thanks J.C. Ludwig; bottom photo Robby Delius]

Kress Greensboro, NC

The Greensboro Kress was built in 1930. It was the first Kress building designed by Edward F. Sibbert who was responsible for Kress' Art Deco designs. He joined the company in 1929 and designed about 50 stores over a 25 year period. They typically had glazed white terra cotta façades and marble encrusted interiors.

This Kress building was actually built on the site of a previous Kress store from 1903. This Kress is famous for the sit-in protests that took place here in 1960 (when the lunch counter was for whites only). The store closed in 1973 and sat vacant for nearly 30 years. It was restored in 2000. The top, fourth floor is used by Kress Terrace as a rentable banquet hall and the third floor is home to an architectural firm but the ground floor is still empty. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2.

Kress Asheville, NC

The Asheville Kress was built in 1928. This store originally had two large rooftop electric signs at each corner. The signs' freestanding letters spelled out Kress with incandescent bulbs. This building has been converted into the "Kress Emporium" (art gallery and condos). The last photo shows the backside entrance. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3.

Kress New Bern, NC	Kress Goldsboro, NC

The New Bern Kress is now home to Theo's Restaurant and other tenants. [photo thanks Kathy Passot]

This Goldsboro Kress houses Citi Trends, a clothes store. There was a Kress built in Goldsboro in 1909 but it doesn't look like the same building unless it was drastically remodeled by Kress later.

Kress
Durham, NC

The Durham Kress was built in 1933 and is one of the largest and most detailed Art Deco buildings in NC. It was built just a few doors from their original 1912 building. In the 1990s, the building was used as a BB&T bank. It is now being converted into condos. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2.