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Kimball Building

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1915. 500–504 West Fifth Ave.
  • Kimball Building (Alison K. Hoagland)

Although plain to the point of homeliness, Kimball's store is a fine example of an early commercial building. The wood-framed, bevel-sided building has two commercial storefronts spanning the front facade, with a blank false front above them. The building is two stories on the E Street side, sloping to one story, but the false front on Fifth Avenue keeps an even cornice. Built in 1915, it originally measured approximately 40 feet by 60 feet.

Irving and Della Kimball sold general merchandise in a store that occupied the width of the first floor, with storage space above; they lived in the rear of the building. Irving Kimball died in 1921, but his widow continued the business. After her death in 1958, the store was divided in half and the east portion rented out; Kimball's continued in the west half. The only visible changes to the structure have been the covering of the transom windows with signs and additions made to the rear in the 1940s.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Alison K. Hoagland
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Data

What's Nearby

William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center
Old Anchorage City Hall
Alaska Center for the Performing Arts
Visitor Information Center
Fifth Avenue Mall

Citation

Alison K. Hoagland, "Kimball Building", [Anchorage, Alaska], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AK-01-SC009.

Print Source

Buildings of Alaska, Alison K. Hoagland. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 88-88.

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