Van Antwerp Building, Early 20th-century skyscraper in downtown Mobile, United States.
The Van Antwerp Building is an 11-story office structure in downtown Mobile designed in the Beaux-Arts style with ornamental terracotta cladding on its exterior. Its interior contains office space with meeting areas, and its street-level features contribute to the walkable character of the downtown core.
The Van Antwerp Building was completed in 1907, making it Mobile's first skyscraper and, according to the sources, the first reinforced-concrete skyscraper in Alabama and the Southeastern United States. Architect George Bigelow Rogers designed the Beaux-Arts tower for druggist Garet Van Antwerp, whose pharmacy occupied the ground floor until the 1960s. The Retirement Systems of Alabama bought it in 2012 and restored it from 2014 to 2016, reinstalling the cornice removed in the 1950s.
The building's name comes from Garet Van Antwerp, a wealthy Mobile druggist who commissioned it to house his pharmacy, which traded on the ground floor until the 1960s. The upper floors held offices. Its Beaux-Arts design by George Bigelow Rogers includes a decorative cornice removed in the 1950s and reinstalled during the 2014–2016 restoration.
The Van Antwerp Building stands at the corner of Dauphin and Royal Streets in downtown Mobile. The ground floor is occupied by commercial tenants, so the lobby and upper office floors are not open to casual visitors. The restored terracotta facade and reinstalled cornice can be viewed from the public sidewalk at any hour.
The decorative cornice visible today is a 2014–2016 reconstruction: the original was removed in the 1950s and reinstalled during the restoration, which also renewed the terracotta exterior, windows and structural systems. The Retirement Systems of Alabama bought the building in October 2012 and it reopened occupied in 2016.
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