Year Built: 1912
Architect: Ferdinand C. Fiske

Architect Fiske designed this building in 1912, six years after construction of the similar Grainger warehouse at 733-737 ‘P’ (the Grainger Brothers Warehouse).  Not only was the same architect involved in both, but also the same contractor, Charles Olson, and the same estimated cost, $40,000.  When the 1912 structure was completed, the Grainger complex had a combined floor space of 109,600 square feet with one entire block of railroad track alongside the building. 

Although the Graingers’ 1906 and 1912 warehouses are very similar in size, the latter version appears much larger and more conspicuous, due to its corner location and long, covered loading dock on 8th Street.  The design of its principal facades is closely related to 733-737 ‘P, ’ but the 1912 building uses a wider, three-window bay as its basic unit.  Fiske probably wanted to avoid too busy or choppy an effect on the long ‘P’ Street façade, which the narrow, two-window bay he employed in 1906 might have created. The Grainger also considered replacing the former Tremont House at 8th and ‘P’ with a third similar warehouse, but that scheme was never executed. 

The 1912 warehouse was used by the fruit department of the business, as reflected in the remnant signs still on the building.  Originally the raised wooden letters would have been brilliant gold leaf, set against a velvety background of black sand.