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Alpha Reference: P <br />Historic Name: Sunshine Grocery Store <br />Address:929 Main Street <br />Construction Date:1922 <br />Parcel #:053-135-260 <br />929 Main Street is a one-story brick building with large plate glass windows, <br />which houses a large auto parts store. The building has a flat roof with parapet. <br />The parapet has a thin concrete coping at its top. Above the main display <br />windows the bricks are laid vertically. 929 Main St. was originally divided into two <br />equally sized stores, although the two storefronts always formeda continuous <br />facade with unbroken brickwork and concrete foundations. Just below the <br />parapet is a sign stretching the facade's width. Below the sign is an egg-and-dart <br />band in concrete. On either end below this egg-and dart band, are two concrete <br />squares within which are molded rosettes. <br />The store is divided into two parts, each with symmetrical fenestration. The store <br />on the left has paired entry doors with large single lights. A transom window is <br />now covered by a plywood sign hanging above both doors. On either side of the <br />doors, large plate glass windows are located. Above these door and window <br />openings a long transom is covered up by a plywood sign. The original store on <br />the right has a fenestration identical to the left except that the paired doors have <br />metal sash rather than wood. Also, a louver window acts as a transom above the <br />paired doors. As on the left above these entry doors and display windows, a long <br />transom has been covered over by a plywood sign. <br />This single story commercial block is one of many that lines Redwood City's Main <br />St. The store continues to serve the auto trade; this portion of Main St. near <br />Middlefield Rd. had many auto related businesses at one time. The structure is a <br />good example of a One Story Commercial Block. This term was developed by <br />the architectural historian, Richard Longstreth, in his book, The Buildings of Main <br />Street, (Washington, D.C.: 1987). It describes the varied, one-story, glass-fronted <br />buildings built along the linear main streets of many small and medium-sized <br />American cities. These buildings were inexpensive to construct, and as the city <br />grew these one-story structures were replaced by more profitable multi-story <br />stores and offices. Redwood City's downtown did not burgeon in size (on the <br />scale of San Jose, for example), and, therefore, is still fortunate to have a <br />number of these humanely scaled one-story storefronts. <br />Originally the site of Beal's Livery Stable, which dated back to the 1870s, these <br />two lots on Main Street were purchased by Ross & Ross Attorneys (George C. <br />Ross and his sons Hall C. and Lee T. Ross). Together the lots had 97' of <br />frontage on Main. <br />Page 49 <br />7.B. - Page 60