Creighton Block (1905), 824 Howard Street
Kid Cuisine KC's Constructor Meal
Pioneer Omahan John Creighton had this brick warehouse constructed in 1905 for the Byrne and Hammer Dry Goods Company. Thomas C. Byrne, president of the company, was first involved in the dry good business as a boy in St. Joseph, Missouri, and later organized the Richardson-Roberts-Byrne Dry Goods Company there. The firm moved to Omaha in 1900 and was located in the P.E. Iler Block in the “Old Market” area before moving to this location. After M.E. Smith Company, Byrne and Hammer was the largest wholesale dry goods company in the city in the early twentieth century with over 50 representatives that traveled throughout the northwest territory.
In 1930, following the dissolution of the Byrne and Hammer Company, the Tootle-Campbell Dry Goods Company of St. Joseph and the Appleman-Robbinson Company, a manufacturer of overalls, leased the Creighton Block. The Tootle Company continued to occupy the structure through 1954. Various wholesale companies have occupied the building since that time.
The eight-story Creighton Block, the most ornate structure in the district, was designed in the Renaissance Revival style by Omaha architect Charles Cleves. The heavily ornamental street-facing facades of the 132-foot square corner building are divided by stone string courses into three distinct sections, vertically. The buildings two-story brick base takes on a rusticated appearance and features deeply recessed, segmentally arched window openings. Five-story stone surrounds, topped with cartouches and swags, frame the transomed Chicago windows of the intermediate floors, giving a vertical emphasis to the central portion of the facade. The top floor, which is treated like an attic story, is crowned by a frieze and heavy cornice, embellished with consoles and dentils. Structurally, the building is comprised of graduated masonry bearing walls and a heavy timber frame, with iron columns utilized at the fist floor. The building stands today essentially as it was originally constructed.