Pittsburgh Mercantile Company Building, Commercial building in South Side Flats, Pittsburgh, United States
The Pittsburgh Mercantile Company Building is a six-story structure of buff Roman brick on a steel frame, with concrete floors and roof, fronting East Carson Street on a 108 ft by 116 ft footprint. Its first story is clad in terra cotta with cornice trim. A three-story-and-mezzanine addition, 36 ft wide, was built on the east side in 1936, and a one-story addition was added at the rear in 1950.
Built in 1907–1908 for the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, the building was run by the Pittsburgh Mercantile Company, a separate corporation whose officers were the same as J&L's, a way around Pennsylvania's ban on direct company stores. It sold groceries, dry goods, hardware and home furnishings, and the scrip system it used ended only in 1950. Goodwill Industries bought it in 1967–1968, and in 2012 it became apartments.
The building demonstrates how commerce and employment were intertwined in industrial-era communities through its former role as a company store supplying groceries, tools, and furnishings to workers. Visitors can still observe the spacious ground-floor layout designed for retail operations that served the neighborhood.
The building was renovated in 2012 and now functions as residential apartments, so interior access is typically not available to the public. The exterior facade is easily visible from the street and displays the original architectural details clearly.
The Pittsburgh Mercantile Company was a separate corporation from Jones and Laughlin Steel, yet its original officers were the same men, a legal workaround to Pennsylvania's ban on company-owned stores. The scrip system it used did not end until 1950, and the firm stayed profitable for another decade.
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