Browne's Block: A New Brick Landmark Rises at Post and Riverside

Among the numerous brick blocks in course of construction in this city there is none that will surpass in exterior decorations and interior finish that of the one now almost completed at the corner of Post street and Riverside avenue. In speaking of this block heretofore the block has been reported as the joint property of J. J. Browne and George Brandt. This is an error. The building is owned exclusively by Mr. Browne, Mr. Brandt's lot joining on the west, and it will be furnished with a brick equally as attractive next summer. The size of the block is fifty feet front on Riverside avenue, with a frontage of eighty-two feet on Post street. It is finished on the Queen in East Lake style, a modern mode of structure that lends great beauty to an edifice wherever applied. The block covers a fine brick wall basement in three compartments that is seven and a half feet in the clear, the floors three by sixteen, close together, and double-braced. The first floor consists of three elegant store rooms, the two on the avenue being twenty-five by sixty-eight feet, and one on Post street twenty-two by forty-two feet. The rooms have a sixteen-foot ceiling, the show-windows being of French polished plate glass, each pane sixty by one hundred and four inches. The upper story is reached from the avenue by a six-foot stairway, with a three-foot central landing, while another approach exists on Post street. The upper floor is divided into offices, single and en suite. There are five single offices in the rear, seventeen by seventeen and fifteen by fifteen, with fourteen-foot ceilings and large windows. Most of the offices have roomy closets. The front stairs lead into a commodious hall, lit by a skylight ten by thirteen feet. The suite of two offices on the west side, to be occupied by A. G. Absalom, are eighteen by eighteen feet, connected by folding doors, swung on Warren's patent hangers. On the west and south sides are four offices, connected with double doors, three eighteen by eighteen feet, and one twelve by eighteen feet, that Mr. Browne will occupy himself. They will be luxurious quarters when the proprietor has them furnished. The rooms are airy, open on the hall, the windows to have inside blinds. The entire block is one that will always attract notice for its beautiful architecture. It stands thirty-eight feet high from the ground to the top of the fire-wall, and is covered with artistic stucco work. The ornaments are of galvanized iron, sanded a light slate. The keystones, pilasters, architraves, and all trimmings are to be cemented, giving a handsome finished appearance to the exterior. There are 33,000 pounds of iron castings used in the building. The architect who furnished the designs for the block is Wm. Stokes, of Portland, formerly of Oakland, Cal., where many elegant bricks, built on plans furnished by him, are evidence of his ability. He is considered to be one of the best architects on the coast, and Browne's Block will not detract from that reputation. B. H. Leslie, the contractor and builder, has had years of experience, and is thoroughly conversant with all the secrets of the craft. He is doing a fine piece of work in this instance. He, like our other builders, has labored under the great disadvantage of procuring material at a distance, and the drawbacks thus entailed have seriously interfered with the progress of the work. He expects to have the entire job completed by the 1st of December, if he can escape any further backsets.