We start with a fine old terra-cotta bank building. The original was slanted, so I redid it to look like the pictures in the brochures. Buildings are always pointier in the promotional images.

We start with a fine old terra-cotta bank building. The original was slanted, so I redid it to look like the pictures in the brochures. Buildings are always pointier in the promotional images.

Fine tracery and original leaded glass, but the window frames are not a good sign.

The other sides aren’t clad, because they presumed other buildings would follow. They did not.

Online accounts say it was built in 1926, but I’ve found a lot of ads from 1925 that show the building.

Ah, Corsicana, land of contrasts

It would be cool if this was a public-safety complex where you had to petition for a restraining order.

The door height always fools you.

Looks like they got the door from Home Depot.

If you say so

What does that shape in the background tell you?

Correct!

Restored. Its Cinematreasures page has an interesting shot: A display for a Pickford movie fun 1922.

Some aggressively stupid modern improvements at work here.

The classical columns holding up the awning is a really nice touch.

I love the 20s.

That is a perfect piece of mid-century design:

No one ever thought “I wonder where the elevators could be.”

Maybe they’re not in the corner. It’s an odd thing to put on the corner - a featureless slab - but it does anchor the building nicely, and give it weight.

Twin sons of different mothers:

Here’s what I mean.

Friends, or rivals?

Not a trace of the old building remains.

There’s no one left alive who remembers what it looks like. But if the screen came down, we might see what they saw. Not that the screen needs to come down! By now this sort of post-war revision is historical.

Can you guess?

The apostrophe is your friend. It was a department store. Not the sort of sign you usually see for a department store. I’ve no idea when it closed, but it was The store, if I can judge by the ads and fawning press accounts.

Oh, cheer up

No one’s laughing now

Sometimes I like them better when they’re not restored.

The “Soda Fountain” addition doesn’t match the 40s style of the Dr Pepper sign. If you’re wondering whether someone added the . To Dr by mistake, it was Dr. Pepper in the early years.

Makes sense you’d want one of those, since a breeze is obviously out of the question.

You might doubt they actually sell those here anymore.

An old warehouse, complete with a Tetanus Awning

Judging from the color and the brick, I’d say that’s a very late example of downtown screen renovation. Great signage. They really did bring some life back to town.

Even though it’s ugly.

See? Faded is better sometimes.

Faded is more evocative.

I can’t begin to tell you what was bricked up and why and how the windows fit the design or why they covered up every other window up top.

Someone could, but he’s probably staring at the wall in a home, because no one comes to visit and ask such things.

The doors seem too narrow for cars.

Perhaps that’s why it’s closed. They could sell ‘em, but couldn’t get ‘em out.

One clue to the building’s original purpose, and one only. Go!

If you’ve been following this feature for a while, you’ll know it. And it doesn’t make you odd at all.