AgdaPkt 2016-09-12 Closed and Joint SA PFA

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Alpha Reference: B Historic Name: Fitzpatrick Building Address: 2020 Broadway Construction Date: 1905 Parcel#: 052-374-100 The building at 2020 Broadway exemplifies no clear architectural style. Its band of arched windows reflects some influences of the Richardsonian Romanesque and Chicago School. It lacks, however, other decorative features representative of either style. From its spatial organization, this drug store building can be classified as what architectural historian Richard Longstreth has called a two- story commercial block, with a glazed storefront at pedestrian level and private office space on the second floor. This store has been sensitively restored, and its arches, clerestory, and cornice give the facade great visual appeal. A simple composition, it complements other, more flamboyant historic buildings nearby. 2020 Broadway occupies an important location, at the core of the downtown business district. The two drug stores (Pioneer and Young's) that occupied this space had social importance for early Redwood City. Druggists were indispensable local professionals, who hand mixed medicines before the days of prepackaged drugs. A lawyer, Edward F. Fitzpatrick, acquired the title to approximately a half a block on Broadway west from the intersection with Main Street. The adjoining lot he reserved for himself. Fitzpatrick's Irish immigrant father was one of Redwood City's early saloon keepers. Having been raised in Redwood City and being Irish-Catholic assured the young attorney a clientele when he began practice in 1880. In addition to a lucrative practice, he was a powerful local politician; he was an astute financier, and he acquired extensive real estate. In March 1905 Fitzpatrick commissioned Alfred I. Coffey to design a building for his lot and contracted with Robert Brown to build it. On the second floor there were offices: the front ones were for Fitzpatrick's offices. Andrew D. Walsh, owner of the historic Pioneer Drug Store, was convinced to move from across the street. As the new tenants were comfortably settled in their new quarters, the 1906 earthquake shook the brick front off of the building. In 1915 the Young's Drug Store was established in the downstairs. After Fitzpatrick's death in 1926 his son occupied the offices for his law practice. Two stories high, the commercial building at 2020 Broadway is flat-roofed with a parapet, and is clad in yellow-tan brick. The two plate glass windows of the first floor appear to have been replaced, and new brick veneer has been added underneath the windows. The doorway led to the Pioneer Drug Store, which occupied the building originally. Above the plate glass, colored glass fills a clerestory, spelling out the words, "Drugs Young's Stationary", for the store which followed the Pioneer Drug Store. Next to the shop windows on the east, is a Page 21 7.B. - Page 32