Watts Building (1888)

O. V. Hunt photograph of the Watts Building

The first Watts Building was a richly ornamented four-story Second-Empire style commercial building on the northwest corner of 3rd Avenue North and 20th Street in downtown Birmingham. It was constructed for Thomas Watts III by Charles M. Allen and Son in 1888 at a cost of $35,000. The building was designed by Charles Wheelock of Wheelock & Wheelock in the Second Empire style, with a rusticated base, grouped windows with brick arches on the second and third floors, and a deep cornice with a mansard roof above.

The Watts Building was home to an unusual number of artists studios and music teachers, along with other professional offices.

The building was offered for sale for $25,000 in 1896.

In 1927 Watts hired Allen & Son to demolish the 39-year-old building to make room for a new 17-story tower on the same site.

Tenants

Early tenants in the Watts building included Lawson Carpet Co., architect J. W. McClain and the Eubank Brothers' dental parlor. In 1905 chemist Jefferson J. Peek opened his Peek Beverage Company in the Watts Building.

Among the law firms with offices in the Watts Building were Heflin & Bulger; James Little; L. C. Dickey and J. F. Gillespie; and Brooks & Brooks.

• 2nd floor
  • Room 1: Ivey Lewis attorney (1896–1898), W. N. Shoemaker physician (1902), Montgomery & Smith (1907), Smith & Norton real estate (1909–1910), M. H. Thompson / Elizabeth Allen / M. T. Haley (1915), H. G. Halversen (1920)
  • Room 2: Brooks & Brooks attorneys (1896–1898), Reamer & Chaffee architects (1902), D. J. Ponceler / Rye-Ola Co. (1907), E. R. Rivers (1910), B. Frank Yoe attorney (1910–1915), Gilbert & Davis (1920)
  • Room 3–4: Gibson & Davis (1907–1915) / Israel Pickens / Jefferson Highland Land Co. (1910)
    • Room 3: Anti-Saloon League (1907)
    • Room 4: Robert H. Jenks Lumber Co. (1902)
  • Room 5: T. Cecil Hicks physician (1898), Weakley & Weakley attorneys (1902), W. H. Tharpe Realty Co. (1907), W. H. Tharpe & Co. (1907–1910), Pickens-Tharpe Realty Co. / Woodland Park Realty Co. (1910), H. G. Halversen (1915), W. C. McCarty (1920)
  • Room 6: J. H. Parsons attorney (1896–1907), L. E. Parsons attorney (1898–1902), R. H. Thomas / A. A. Clisby / J. S. Jemison (1910), I. Copeland (1920)
  • Room 7: Carpenters District Council (1907), Carl Kreis (1910)
  • Room 8: Toledo Computing Scale Co. / Rose Tobacco Cure / Quick Unloading Car Chute Co. (1907), Kreis Novelty House (1910)
  • Room 9: B. Frank Yoe attorney / E. R. Rivers (1907), R. M. Vance / Hugh Ritter / J. F. Davidson (1910)
  • Room 10: George Hudson (1898), J. J. McDavid, real estate law (1888), J. F. Davidson (1915)
• 3rd floor
  • Room 11: Ira Gilbert / Charles Watson (1898), R. A. Jones physician (1902–1907), Mrs M. B. Lynch (1915), B. Frank Yoe attorney (1920)
  • Rooms 12–14: Birmingham Millinery Training School (1915)
    • Room 12: A. Flowers (1898), W. G. Oliver real estate / M. F. Cahalan attorney (1902), Charles Denegre (1907), Katherine Bassette (1910), Pim & Erwin (1920)
    • Rooms 13–14: J. B. Carr & Co. architects (1902)
      • Room 13: J. L. Meade attorney (1898), Royal Life & Accident Association (1907)
      • Room 14: B. Frank Yoe attorney (1898), Laura E. Burton and Irene Bullard, physicians (1906), D. H. Tolman (1907)
  • Room 15: R. N. Bell / Romaine Boyd attorneys (1902), J. B. Carr & Co. architects (1904), Breeding & Whilldin architects (1905–1907), H. D. Breeding (1910–1925)
  • Rooms 16–17: Alabama Tube & Iron Co. (1902)
    • Room 16: YWCA (1907), Mrs W. G. Lynch (1910), National Life Insurance Co. / J. F. Weir (1915), Allen & Oden Ore Co. (1920)
    • Room 17: Morgan Kerr (1898), National Life Insurance Co. of USA (1915), Mrs M. W. Bookhardt / Mrs Myrtle Hand (1920)
  • Room 18–19: Electro-Libration Co. (John N. Webb 1889–1890)
  • Room 18: H. W. Elliott (1898), T. C. Cairns (1920)
  • Room 19: Leslie-Judge Co. (1920)
  • Room 20: Charles Denegre attorney (1902), Hammond's Colonization Realty Co. (1915)
  • Room 21: Hugh Odom (1898), A. S. Woolley specialist (1902), J. F. Weir / Marshall Reed (1910),Lawrenson & Co. / J. N. Sisson & Co. (1915), Janie Orman / Julia Orman (1920)
  • Rooms 22–24: Mrs J. C. Johnston modiste (1902)
    • Room 22: Abbie Murphy (1907–1910), Mrs M. F. Robinson (1915), Mrs L. B. Thomason (1920)
    • Room 23: Norma Schoolar (1907), Amelia Embrey (1920)
    • Room 24: Lucile Douglas artist (1904), Mrs M. E. Raulston (1907–1910), Mary Kendrick (1920), D'Agostino School of Music (1925)
  • Room 25: A. C. Tarrant artist (1904), Union Educator & Diversified Farmer (1907), Sara Mallam / Yrma Ivey (1910), Glennie Mosely (1915), Mrs D. A. Shivers (1920)
  • Room 26: Mrs C. W. Morgan artist (1902–1904), Lucile Douglas / Glennie Mosely (1907), G. O. Friermood (1910), Daisy Rowley (1915), T. M. Thomason violin teacher (1920–1925)
  • Room 27: Daisy Rowley music teacher (1902–1907), Academy of Music (1910), T. M. Thomason (1915), Jefferson County Board of Education (1920)
    • Room 28–29: Birmingham School of Art (1902–1910)
    • Room 28: Alice Rumph artist (1904), Bertha Hunnicutt (1920), Pearl Stewart, violin teacher (1925)
    • Room 29: Edna Smith artist (1904–1915), Birmingham School of Art (1915)
  • Room 30-31: Mrs M. E. Raulston artist (1904)
    • Room 30: Mrs J. B. Raulston artist (1902), Cleo Glover (1907–1910), Louise Lewis (1915), Anna Tarrant (1920)
    • Room 31: Henry Dorn (1898), J. L. Fitzgibbon artist (1902), Evelyn Heine (1907–1920)

References

• North Alabama (Illustrated) (1888) Birmingham: Southern Commercial Publishing Co.
• "Doctor Kills Wife and Self; Dentist Shot." (April 10, 1906) "Birmingham Age-Herald", republished by A. J. Wright, Early Female Physicians of Alabama - accessed June 1, 2006
• Satterfield, Carolyn Green (1976) Historic Sites of Jefferson County, Alabama. Birmingham: Jefferson County Historical Commission/Gray Printing Company
• White, Marjorie Longenecker (1977) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.