F.W. Woolworth Company Building
Built in 1940 for the F.W. Woolworth Company and clad in peach and cream terra cotta lotus tiles, this chamfered corner building served Wilmington’s downtown for nearly six decades.
At a glance
At the corner of 9th and Market Streets, one block from Rodney Square, the F.W. Woolworth Company Building announces itself with alternating peach and cream terra cotta stripes rising above a polished black granite base. Architect H.W. Stakes — the Woolworth Company’s in-house designer — embedded lotus-petal reliefs into each vertical tile band, giving the building a surface texture that reads as both exotic and precise. A grey medallion bearing a raised “W” marks the chamfered corner, a standard Woolworth signature that here meets Wilmington’s premier commercial artery. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 2, 1987 (ref. 86003755).
Key facts
- Built: 1940 (third story added 1959)
- Style: Art Deco
- Architect: H.W. Stakes (F.W. Woolworth Company staff architect)
- Address: 839 N. Market St. (corner 9th and Market), Wilmington, DE
- NRHP: January 2, 1987 — ref. 86003755
- Also: Contributing building, Downtown Wilmington Commercial Historic District (2017)
- Structure: Steel frame with masonry curtain wall
History
H.W. Stakes designed the Wilmington store in 1940 as part of the Woolworth Company’s national building program, which applied a consistent Art Deco vocabulary to the chain’s new and rebuilt locations across the country. From 1940 until 1997 the building operated as a Woolworth variety store, stocking the two sales floors — ground level and a bargain basement connected by escalators — that served Wilmington shoppers for nearly six decades. In 1959 Woolworth added a third story, extending the terra cotta cladding to maintain visual coherence with the lower floors.
After the Woolworth chain ceased operations in 1997, the building became a Happy Harry’s drug store, which Walgreens acquired in 2007. BPG Property Group purchased the property in 2008. The National Register listing of January 2, 1987, recognized the building’s significance as a well-preserved example of Woolworth’s corporate Art Deco idiom. In 2017 the building was also recognized as a contributing structure within the Downtown Wilmington Commercial Historic District.
What you see
The ground floor is sheathed in polished black granite, its weight contrasting with the lighter terra cotta that rises above. From the second floor upward, alternating vertical stripes of peach and cream tiles form the primary wall surface, each stripe finished with lotus-petal reliefs — a motif that entered Art Deco ornament from Egyptian Revival sources after the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The lotus detailing is precise and repeated, so the facade reads as a textile rather than a sculptural composition: ornament as pattern rather than narrative.
The building meets the corner of 9th and Market with a chamfered face, the diagonal cut filled by a grey circular medallion bearing a raised “W” — the Woolworth corporate seal rendered in three dimensions. This corner treatment, repeated across Woolworth stores nationally, is the brand’s most legible architectural signature. In Wilmington the chamfer aligns the building toward Rodney Square, giving the medallion a sightline that extends well down Market Street.
Practical information
- Access: Exterior freely viewable; ground-floor retail (Walgreens) open standard pharmacy hours
- Best position: Stand at the corner of 9th and Market for the full chamfered medallion view
- Time needed: 10–15 minutes for a thorough exterior read
- Context walk: Combine with Rodney Square (one block east) and the Hotel Du Pont (across the square)
Getting there
The building is at 839 N. Market St., Wilmington, DE. Wilmington Amtrak station (Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station) is approximately a 10-minute walk southeast on King Street. SEPTA and DART buses serve the downtown core. Philadelphia International Airport is 25 miles northeast via I-95. GPS: 39.74464°N, −75.54859°W.
Nearby
- Hotel Du Pont (1913) — Beaux-Arts hotel on Rodney Square, one block east, with one of Delaware’s grandest interiors
- Rodney Square — Wilmington’s civic focal point, framed by federal and city government buildings
- Grand Opera House (1871) — Cast-iron Masonic hall on Market Street, two blocks south, now a performing arts center
Sources
- Wikipedia: F.W. Woolworth Building (Wilmington, Delaware) — construction history, architectural description, and ownership timeline
- National Register of Historic Places nomination, ref. 86003755 (January 2, 1987)
- Downtown Wilmington Commercial Historic District (NRHP 2017) — contributing building documentation
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