I took this picture of the painter putting the first coat of black paint on the Hub and it reminded me of another picture taken back in what we think was about 1917.
We consciously copied the awning pattern and restored the facade to the original brick. The details of the awning's construction are different - the original started higher, hung lower, was retractable, and had a hood over it. Ours is rigid and a bit smaller so as to both show off more brick and avoid brushing passersby heads.
The brickwork on the 111 side deserves a brief mention. This was its appearance up (as "Neville's Place") until Louis Kariel Sr. moved the Hub to that side in 1928, at which time the facade was rebricked with buff-colored brick, albeit in the same pattern as the 113 side - with a row of clerestory windows over the store's display windows. (I don't have a picture of this appearance, but have seen one over at Logan & Whaley) The brick was then stuccoed sometime in the '40's or '50's I assume, and the clerestory windows were replaced with the same black tile that wrapped the lower facade - and a retractable fabric awning was installed. That is the appearance we are restoring it to, and the "backer board" shown in these pictures should get its black tile facing sometime Saturday, I understand. Awning will then go up sometime next week. Here's a picture from the day the aluminum facade came down showing the appearance we are working to return it to.