Wilson Building

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The Wilson Building is a 3-story brick commercial building at 2213–2215 Morris Avenue in downtown Birmingham. It takes it name from Wilson & Sons wholesale grocery business, which operated from the building from the 1930s to the 1970s.

The building is notable for its handsome facade, divided into two bays, each with a group of three double-hung windows. On the second floor each rectangular window is topped by a shallow brick arch. On the third floor the window tops are curved to fit under a single large projecting arch.

The building was constructed in the 1880s, and was indicated as vacant on an 1888 fire insurance map. The brick walls were 16 inches thick on the ground floor at 12 inches thick above, supporting wooden floor beams with a central girder supported on iron posts. In the 1891 map it is shown as a flour and feed warehouse, with an indication of an elevator near the center of the building and a staircase along the eastern wall. In the 1902 map it is noted that the elevator is located just west of the central girder.

In 1904 the building suffered a fire, but was not destroyed. On Sunday January 21, 1906 the building collapsed, leaving only part of the front wall intact and covering the adjacent L & N Railroad tracks with grain and debris. No one was in the building at the time, and no injuries were reported. The grain itself was largely salvaged. An adjoining structure occupied by J. F. Baldwin, a dealer in building materials, at 2217 Morris Avenue, was entirely destroyed by the collapse of its larger neighbor.

The building was rebuilt in 1907 with concrete floors and roof, supported on brick walls 20 inches thick at the ground floor and 16 inches thick above. The elevator was moved to the western wall.

The building was restored in the the 1980s by Nimrod Long & Associates, Renneker Tichansky Architects, Renneker & Co. and James H. Haggard. Their efforts were recognized with a 1987 Birmingham Historical Society Preservation Award.

Tenants

References

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