Know Your Neighborhood - The Boekel Building, 505 - 511 Vine St.
William Boekel founded his company, which initially produced plumbing supplies, in 1868. In 1885, Boekel, who had changed his company's focus to manufacturing equipment for laboratories, moved to Old City. After being displaced by the Benjamin Franklin Bridge construction project, Boekel erected the large, ornamented, concrete-frame factory building (just across the street from his original building at 516 - 518 Vine St) at 505 - 511 Vine Street in 1922 and 1923. Designed by architect-engineer Clarence Wunder, the building is an excellent example of the Red & White Industrial style.
The Red & White Industrial style identifies a coherent set of reinforced concrete frame
buildings erected between about 1900 and the stock market crash in 1929. This style
can be considered a subset of the broadly-defined Early Twentieth Century Commercial
style. The style derives its name from the contrasting red brick cladding or infill and white
ornament. The white ornament was typically produced in terra cotta.
Unlike the many Old City factories that closed during the Depression, Boekel's company continued to produce laboratory equipment until 1992, when they moved to the suburbs.
The Red & White Industrial style identifies a coherent set of reinforced concrete frame
buildings erected between about 1900 and the stock market crash in 1929. This style
can be considered a subset of the broadly-defined Early Twentieth Century Commercial
style. The style derives its name from the contrasting red brick cladding or infill and white
ornament. The white ornament was typically produced in terra cotta.
Unlike the many Old City factories that closed during the Depression, Boekel's company continued to produce laboratory equipment until 1992, when they moved to the suburbs.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Boekel Scientific is still in business in lower Bucks County making biology lab equipment.
Today
No comments:
Post a Comment