Frederick Ketter Warehouse (Walter Geiger Horseradish Factory)

Frederick Ketter Warehouse (Walter Geiger Horseradish Factory)

Frederick Ketter Warehouse (Walter Geiger Horseradish Factory) Photograph by Andrew Hope
c. 1891. 325 W. Vine St.

When grocer Frederick Ketter commissioned this little brick warehouse, his builders gave its narrow facade a strongly vertical orientation, concluding in a stepped gable that strongly recalls the Renaissance-era urban merchant houses of northern Europe. Tall windows recede between soaring pilasters, each terminating in a heavy capstone. The building remained in use as a grocery warehouse until 1926. Walter Geiger bought it in 1936 and converted it into a horseradish- and honey-bottling plant, as recorded in a faded sign panel above the main entrance.

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