History
The Empire Block was built in 1891 and holds the Romanesque Revival architecture. The building was designed by Carl Worth and owned by Billings & Bailey of the Empire Building Company of New York. The Schmidt Bros. built the Empire Block for $45,000. It has housed various businesses throughout the years, including dentist offices, grocers, pharmacies, and the most recent, Lurye Furniture. The upper two floors were composed of varied office spaces and apartments. The apartments were vacated in the mid 1980's.
The unique apartments possess light wells in the middle of the building, giving light through opaque windows to the inside walls that would typically be windowless. Select third floor apartments contain skylights. All original built-in cabinets have been re-purposed throughout the apartments. The hallways are lit with the original fixtures that hung long ago. The fire escape has been converted into select apartment balconies. All the trim, doors, railings, and wood floors have been refinished to their original beauty.
