History

S. H. Kress and Company was one of the great American five-and-dime chains, operating hundreds of stores across the country from the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth. What distinguished Kress from its competitors was the company’s commitment to architectural quality: from the 1920s onward, Kress employed staff architects — most notably Edward Sibbert, who served as chief architect from 1929 to 1954 — to design stores that were recognizable corporate expressions while adapting to local conditions.

Sibbert’s Art Deco designs became the defining face of the Kress chain in the 1930s. The Columbia store, built in 1934, is characteristic of his work: terra cotta facades in white and color, geometric ornament, rounded storefronts, and the stepped parapet spelling “Kress” in a lettering style that was both a brand mark and an Art Deco design element in its own right. The site on Main Street, across from what became the Columbia Museum of Art, placed the building in the commercial heart of the state capital.

The Kress chain began closing stores in the 1970s and 1980s as retail patterns shifted to suburban malls. The Columbia building survived through adaptive reuse and was among the first Main Street buildings to gain federal historic protection, receiving its NRHP listing in 1979. A 2016 renovation added a penthouse and modernized the upper floors for residential use while retaining the ground floor commercial character.