Standardized Wholesale Liquor Co.

About this Property

#Last Tenants

This narrow but deep 3-story brick building was home to a few different incarnations of dance clubs over the past decade or more. Namely Club Monet and Van Gogh Lounge, two impressionist-artist-inspired themes. The changeover from Monet to Van Gogh happened in 2013. After a few violent incidents, including a fatal shooting, the city Board of Licenses revoked Monet Lounge’s liquor license. The nightclub changed its name to Van Gogh Lounge and format to play dance music instead of hip-hop music, as Monet did previously. Additional problems with violence occurred under the Van Gogh name up until 2016. The club finally closed sometime in 2017 (based on the latest Yelp reviews).

#Current Events

Listed for sale on LoopNet with some interior photos. Succumbing to graffiti and broken windows and listed on the 2021 and 2023 Ten Most Endangered Lists because of its rapid decay.

#History

From the “Industrial Sites and Commercial Buildings Survey (ICBS)” by PPS and the AIA, 2001-2002

(Documented as part of 119 Harris Avenue) Attached to the east is a large, rectangular, three-story, brick block (113 Harris Avenue; 1920s) with a concrete foundation notable for its chamfered corner on Harris Avenue. The building is embellished with concrete bands outlining floors and the chamfered corner. An oversized, recessed opening features wood stairs and ramps. The building’s main entrance is comprised of a metal-and-glass door flanked by single-light sidelights and set below a single-light transom. Fenestration is comprised of rectangular openings with multi-light metal sash windows. The building’s easternmost side is contoured to the railroad tracks. These buildings are extant remnants of the eastern Promenade District’s history as a railroad hub.

From the Provisions Warehouse Historic District nomination form, 1994

Adjoining the Brownell and Field Building on the north side of Harris Avenue is the Standard Wholesale Liquors Co. Building (1937) at 115 Harris Avenue. The original function of this building was as a wholesale liquor business. Little ornamentation adorns the flat-roof, rectangular, three-story, brown-brick warehouse structure with a rail spur against its eastern wall. To the west, it lies adjacent to the Brownell & Field Co., 119 Harris Avenue.

Unlike any of the other buildings in the district, it does not have sheltered loading platforms either for freight or truck use. Instead, the facade is open to Harris Avenue with a recessed, integral loading area to accommodate trucks. A platform lies at the back wall of the loading space. Horizontal-pattern decorative brick work tops this opening and the corner entrance. Cast-stone, in narrow bands, is the only ornament and serves as the running course between the second and third-story steel sash windows. The cast-stone band also serves as the cornice defining the roofline and the corners of the Harris Avenue facade. In simple contrast, the rail elevation is unadorned with running bond brick punctuated by nine-pane steel sash on the second story and six-pane sash on the third. The foundation is of running bond.