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(Photograph by Lynette Felber)
The two-story, Italianate Terminal Building on the northeast corner of Harris Avenue and Eleventh Street is the oldest extant building in Fairhaven. It dates to 1888, the early era of the boomtown’s development. Constructed on a sloping site, the Terminal Building has been in continual use since its opening, largely for retail.
During Fairhaven’s boom days, the Sideboard Saloon and G.O. Pearce’s barbershop occupied the first floor. The second floor was designed for residences, but was primarily used as office space for various businesses, including a real estate office. The name “Terminal Building” was adopted in the 1930s because it stood at the intersection of the electric street railway. In 1933, the building included a soda fountain convenient for those waiting for a trolley.
Faced in brick veneer apparently re-used from ship ballast, the building features segmental-arched openings filled with pairs of sash windows topped with cast stone keystones. The Harris Avenue facade has two plate-glass storefronts on the ground floor, and both street facades have wooden friezes, bracketed cornices, and a central entry below wide transoms. The transom over the west entry features latticed glass in a diamond pattern.
In 1973, the building’s foundation was reinforced, the exterior brick cleaned, and the cornice repainted. This building is one of two in the Fairhaven District individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.