Quick Facts

NPS Description

128-128 ½ South Main Street, ca. 1900.

Contributing 

Description

Two-story Commercial Late Victorian retail/mixed use building with a frontage of 22 feet on South Main Street. The second story is of painted brick with brick end piers and stacked stretcher corbelling under the cornice line. Two replacement aluminum paired single-hung windows with brick segmental arch heads are on the second floor with a bricked in arched opening centered in between. The storefront is remodeled with newer brick, a recessed side entry to the north, and wood shake projecting pent roof that continues onto 130 South Main Street. 

The west (rear) elevation is of painted brick with second-story brick arch windows paneled over and a back entry with projecting fabric awning on the first floor. The north and south (side) elevations are not visible due to adjoining buildings. The interior is remodeled with modern finishes but retains the original tin ceilings. The interior of 128 South Main Street is connected to the interior of 130 South Main Street. 

History 

128 South Main Street was constructed between 1895 and 1900 as a grocery story. Frank Spagnuola ran his grocery and meat store at this address from the 1930s to 1953. It was then Bill’s Takeout from the 1950s to 1968 and Fortino’s Party Store in 1970-72. The building then housed Dick and Dede’s Bar in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It has been the home of the Brass Café and Saloon since 1985. 

Integrity Analysis 

The building was constructed as a typical late nineteenth-century commercial building with a brick front, arched windows on the second floor, and a projecting cornice. The cornice remained in place into the 1950s, but has since been removed from the building, although the brick corbelling beneath remains. There were originally three arched window openings across the second floor, with a single double-hung unit in the center and paired double-hungs to either side. The center window has been bricked over and replacement windows installed at the other windows. The storefront has been remodeled several times; the current brick storefront and shingled pent roof (now extending across to 130 South Main) has been in place since the late 1980s. 

Sources 

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (Mt. Pleasant: 1884, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1910, 1924, 1931, 1950); Mt. Pleasant City Directories, 1925-1998; Past and Present of Isabella County, 1911; City of Mt. Pleasant Building Permits; historic photographs.