"Dougherty & Downs Rectifying Works" (1879), Hexamer #1425.
B & B DYERS, c.1865-c.1923
1337-1349 Frankford Avenue, 1324-1330 Crease Street, Philadelphia PA 19125
© Stuart Paul Dixon,
Workshop of the
World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
The B & B Dyers complex
currently consists of four buildings fronting on
Frankford Avenue and two buildings facing Crease Street,
all of brick construction. The oldest portion of the
complex is composed of the buildings at 1347-1349 and
1345 Frankford. The two-story building, four bays wide,
at 1347-1349 Frankford Avenue, dates from about
1865. 1
The four bays on
the first story have been recently altered, but the upper
story reflects the original window placement, in spite of
its being covered with louvered-metal canopies. The
northeastern corner of the building has a square draft
stack with a corbeled top as well as a gable-roofed
dormer. A one-story brick rear wing connects the building
to the rear of those facing Crease
Street.
The two-story, two-bay building at 1345 Frankford also
dates to about 1865. A slight change of color in the
brick between the first and second floors indicates that
the second story may have been added after the building
was constructed. 2
The upper-story
bays have steel industrial sash and louvered-metal
canopies similar to those at 1347-1349 Frankford. A
raised-brick rectangle adorns the area above the
second-story bay openings, and on the north side of the
first story, a brass sign proclaims "B & B Dyers."
There is no entrance off Frankford Avenue into the
building, mirroring the structure's appearance in an 1879
insurance survey.
A one-story, three-bay structure with a parapet-gable
roof stands at 1341-1343 Frankford Avenue. Dating from
circa 1890, the building has had several alterations.
Adjacent to it, at 1337-1339 Frankford, is a two-story
brick building with a parapet roof; it dates to about
1920. This building has five bays on the second story;
the first floor bays were probably similar in design, but
presently there are only three bays.
The two buildings to the rear of the Frankford Avenue
properties at 1324 to 1330 Crease Street are two-story
structures. The four-bay brick building to the north
(1328-1330 Crease) has a square brick chimney stack with
a corbeled peak at its southwest corner. The two
and one-half story building adjacent to it at 1324-1326
Crease Street contains two bays on the lower and upper
levels, both altered by concrete blocks and iron grates.
A mansard dormer is centered on the metal-sheathed
roof.
Deed transactions show that three brothers, William H.,
Charles A., and John A. Dougherty, purchased property
along Frankford Avenue in 1868 from William King. The two
buildings located at 1345 and 1347-1349 Frankford were
probably constructed by King, listed in an 1866 city
directory as an alcohol, coal oil, and fluid manufacturer
at that address. An 1870 city directory indicates that
1349 Frankford Avenue was then occupied by Dougherty
Bros., "rectifiers of cologne spirits, alcohol, etc." In
the same year, the three brothers, known as J. A.
Dougherty's Sons, were "distillers of fine rye whiskey"
at 1134 North Front Street, one block west of the
Frankford Avenue location; the Dougherty family had been
distilling grains at the Front Street building since
1861.
In 1877, John A. Dougherty and Abel D. Downs purchased
the two Frankford Avenue buildings and soon constructed a
two-story brick storehouse for high wine behind their
distilling and rectifying building at 1347-1349 Frankford
Avenue. 3
According to an
1879 Hexamer General Survey, six men worked at Dougherty
& Downs Rectifying Works, manufacturing alcohol and
rectifying spirits from high wine at the Frankford Avenue
complex. A one-story frame boiler house and an adjoining
two-story frame condenser house stood behind the
one-story brick office at 1345 Frankford. The rear
buildings along Crease Street consisted of a
barrel-gluing shop, carriage house, and stable.
Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century
atlases identify the complex as an "Alcohol
Factory."
In 1923, the heirs of Dougherty & Downs sold the
rectifying works to Eugene P. Bachman, Sr., one of the
present owners of B & B Dyers. Bachman had previously
been in the electroplating, engraving and die-sinking
business at 709 Sansom Street, where he employed two men.
B & B dyed and finished textiles at the Frankford
Avenue site, employing 52 persons in 1941 and 71 in 1943.
In 1957, the buildings contained boilers, dynamos, and
stokers. B & B discontinued operation in 1989.
1 Hexamer General Survey #1425 (1879)
"Dougherty & Downs Rectifying
Works."
2 The 1879 Hexamer
General Survey map of the complex describes a
one-story building with similar treatment was erected
at this address in 1865.
3 High wine refers to any
distilled product, usually vinegar or alcohol.
Update May
2007 (by
Torben Jenk):
Vacant.