Bryan Building facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Bryan Building
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 Location in Florida
Location in the United States
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| Location | 220-230 Brickell Ave., Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
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| Area | less than 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1913-14 |
| Architectural style | Masonry vernacular |
| NRHP reference No. | 97001282 |
| Added to NRHP | 30 October 1997 |
The Bryan Building is a really old and important building in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It's also been known as the Shepherd Building and the DeSoto Hotel. You can find it at 220-230 Brickell Avenue. In 1997, it was added to a special list called the National Register of Historic Places in the United States. This means it's a historic place worth protecting!
Contents
What the Bryan Building Looks Like
This building has two floors and is made of strong materials like brick. It's built in a style called "masonry vernacular," which means it uses local materials and building methods. The front of the building has cool brick designs and columns.
Unique Brick Design
It's pretty unusual to see so much brick on a building in South Florida. Most buildings there are made of concrete or hollow clay tiles. The Bryan Building is shaped like a rectangle and faces west. It has five shop fronts, separated by brick columns called pilasters. These shop fronts have big glass windows.
Upper Floor Details
The top floor has eight windows with brick frames. These frames look a bit like a simple Greek key design. A decorative band of stucco separates the first and second floors. Below this band, there's an arched doorway that sticks out a little.
Side and Inside Features
On the south side of the building, there are four windows on the ground floor and two doorways. One doorway leads to stairs for the second floor. The other, at the southwest corner, was once an entrance to offices. The first and second floors on this side are separated by a raised brick band. The windows on the upper story are similar to those on the west side. To get upstairs, people usually used the stairway inside the arched doorway on the west side. The floors and ceilings upstairs were made from a special type of wood called Dade County Pine.
The Building's History
The Bryan Building was built by Thomas Bryan. He started building it after a big fire hit downtown Fort Lauderdale in 1912. This building is special because it's one of the oldest buildings from that time that hasn't been changed much.
Thomas Bryan's Role
Thomas Bryan was the son of Nathaniel Bryan. Nathaniel helped build the extension of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway all the way to Miami. Thomas was very involved in developing Fort Lauderdale and helped create Broward County. The area where the Bryan Building stands was once the main business center of Fort Lauderdale.
How the Building Was Used
The Bryan Building has been used for many different things over the years.
Early Businesses
From 1914 to 1925, the Post Office was located in the building. Around the same time, The Fort Lauderdale Bank also had offices on the ground floor.
Hotels and Rooming Houses
From the 1920s until the early 1990s, the second floor was often a hotel or a place where people could rent rooms. Some of the hotels included the Hotel DeSoto (from 1919 to at least 1927), the Lee Hotel (1936-1938), the Hotel Boriss (1940–1946), and the Dorsey Hotel (1950–1965). The Dorsey Hotel was just for men and had a cowboy theme!
Other Tenants
The law offices of attorney and City Judge Ennis Shepherd were on the ground floor from 1947 into the early 1900s. Other businesses included Read's Dry Goods, where people bought materials to make clothes, other shops selling dry goods, meat sellers, real estate offices, and insurance companies.
Changes Over Time
In the 1960s, downtown Fort Lauderdale became less busy as people moved to the suburbs. Around 1998, the building was carefully fixed up to look like it did when it was first built. This renovation helped it get its historic designation.
- Feinstein-Bartl, Beth; Cherry, Alan (15 October 1997). "Early settlers honored celebrate Pioneer Days". Sun-Sentinel: p. 3. ProQuest 388298406.
- Florida Division of Historical Resources
