The Palmer Building

75 Whitney Avenue, or The Palmer Building, was built around 1920 by Charles Scranton Palmer on a small wedge of lot 73, replacing a small shed. Although the brick and pink granite facade of the building only spans about 18' wide, the back fans out creating an alarming 3200 square feet foot plan. The building's most remarkable architectural detail is its second floor window which is flanked on either side by small fluted Corinthian columns and on top adorned by a beautiful fan light and flat brick arch. One of the most remarkable facts about 75 Whitney Avenue, however, is not the strange architectural layout or beautiful colonial revival design but its ability to maintain both its original structure and function.



Originally built to house Charles Scranton Palmer's architecture firm, residential apartments and one small store front facing Whitney A venues commercial district, The Palmer Building has, over the years, has maintained both its original structural form, (having had no major construction projects) and its original mixed use purpose. Over the years the building has been occupied by an herb store, dentists, doctors, music teachers, clothing boutiques, insurance companies, real estate offices, antique shops, art galleries, book stores and more consistently, architectural offices and residents. Today the Palmer Building is noted in the Historical Resources Inventory at the City Hall 's City Plan Department to be an "attractive re-use of a colonial revival building by a commercial enterprise" referring to its current owner, Shemco lncorportated.