Carruthers-Jones Shoe Company Building
A narrow eight-story loft, two bays wide, built of dark brown brick and framed in ivory terra cotta. Each bay holds a band of four windows on every floor, separated by terra-cotta spandrel panels. At the top floor, half-round terra-cotta columns with plain block capitals stand between the windows beneath a deep overhanging cornice of green-patinated copper, and the parapet is coped in white glazed tile. The ground floor is a later Streamline remodel in glazed teal and cobalt-blue tile, with the address 1517 in stylized metal numerals and a stainless steel entrance under a small canopy. High on the side wall, where the building rises above its shorter neighbor, a painted sign still reads CARRUTHERS-JONES SHOE CO., and more Carruthers-Jones lettering survives on the walls behind the building, seen from the City Museum side.
Built in 1910 to the design of Harry F. Roach, according to the National Register nomination for the Washington Avenue Historic District. Built St. Louis gives the date as 1917, but a 1911-12 shoe trade directory already lists the Carruthers-Jones Shoe Co. at 1517 Washington Avenue, which supports the earlier date. Carruthers-Jones made a general line of men's, women's and boys' shoes, with its factory on North Spring Avenue. A 1911 ad in the Shoe and Leather Encyclopedia calls the firm The House of Progress at 1517-19 Washington Avenue and promises a full line on the floor for instant shipment, under brand names such as Lady Lee, Glen Mary and Overton Park. The same book lists a Carruthers-Jones house in Memphis as well as St. Louis. It was one of dozens of shoe firms along Washington Avenue at a time when the industry made St. Louis one of the largest shoe centers in the country. The company's painted signs still survive on the side and rear walls. At some point the ground floor received its Streamline glazed-tile front. Around 2002 the building was converted into the Paristyle Lofts, with nine condominiums above ground-floor retail, and the Streamline entrance was restored as part of the work.
