Moving & Shaking, Wheeling & Dealing, Making & Breaking. It All Happened Within The Confines Of The Brick &
Mortar At The Heart Of Every Industrial City.
Downtown
Minneapolis
Sky Scrapers - Trade Towers
Royal Edward Arms
Fort William
Metropolitan High Rises
Whalen Building
Port Arthur
Whalen Building
Banks & Legal & Professonal Offices
County Courthouses
Court House
Port Arthur
Overlooking Downtown
Duluth
Shopping District In the early 20th century, successful merchants throughout the country built commercial buildings
like these ones. Small businesses occupied the ground floor, displaying their wares in large windows. The upper floors were
sublet as professional offices, club meeting rooms, or apartments. Such buildings can still be found on the main streets of
small towns and big cities.
Department Stores
Merchant's Row 1
Merchant's Row 2
Merchant's Row 3
Downtown
Chicago
Commercial Buildings
Hudson's Department Store Demo
Worthington Hotel
Belvedere Hotel
Worthington & Belvedere Hotels Before automobiles and superhighways, businesses like the Belvedere and Worthington
Hotel were homes away from home. Guests enjoyed comfortable bedrooms, a full-service restaurant and a parlor on the ground
floor. The pace of life was slower, and guests often stayed for days or weeks at a time. The "Belvedere" and "Worthington"
are modeled after such Victorian-era establishments as those described above and was designed to fit on a town street corner.
While they do capture the look and feel of hotels built prior to 1900, they've also retained some of the smells and aura from
that time and have seen better days. The Worthington is full most nights, but business isn't as peppy as it once was at the
Belvedere, but ownership is buoyed by the success of it's sister establishments the Belvedere Theater and Bottom's-Up Bar
that prosper in the Entertainment District.
Taxi Cab Companies
Checker Cabs
Checker Taxi
This American classic, a roomy, comfortable sedan, epitomized urban travel throughout the country. First produced in the late
1950s, it was the car of choice for taxi fleets. Its styling remained virtually unchanged until production ended in the late
1970s.
These Checker Taxis look great picking up passengers at the depot or waiting for a fare on the layouts busy city streets.
My city scene just wouldn’t have felt complete without a fair share of yellow taxi cabs lining the streets in front
of the business district, movie theaters, department stores and hotels.
Whole Foods Markets
CookCounty Whoole Foods Co-Op
Grand Marais, Minnesota
Whole Foods Co-Op
Duluth, Minnesota
Fire Station
Fire Hall Meditation
Port Arthur
ChicagoStyle Fire Engine
TBay Fire Truck & Station
Fire Hall Fire Halls are fixtures in cities and towns across the continent. During the late 1800s and early 1900s,
brick structures with tall hose-drying towers and large apparatus doors populated industrial and commercial districts everywhere.
Some stations were manned by volunteers, and others -- most notably in large cities -- by professional firefighters.
With its classic styling and tall hose-drying tower, this Fire House has all the elements of a typical North American firehouse
constructed in the late 19th or early 20th century. This detailed model features parts molded in appropriate colors to imitate
cut-stone cornices and trim on brick walls. With the movable wood doors and its correct sizing, this Fire House is deep enough
to handle all my Chicago-style ladder fire trucks. This structure is not that different to the one that adorns our waterfront
here in Port Arthur.
Library
Library
St. Paul, Minnesota
Brodie Library
Fort William
Auto Repair Shop
Speedy's Repair Shop Every town seems to have that one person who can fix anything. From damaged wheelbarrows to
broken sewing machines, Speedy is the man to get whatever's broken working again. The town folk all know his real specialty
is repairing things other people tried to fix but couldn't!
On this layout, Speedy's Repair Shop is one of those buildings that fits everywhere. Out in the sticks, there's Schultz's
Garage, but if you're on or around Main Street, Speedy's is the place to go.
Police Station
Fort William Police Station - Museum
Thunder Bay Historical Society
Police History Exhibit
Thunder Bay
Police Tow Truck
Port Arthur Police
Wisconsin State Troopers
Newspaper Building - Daily Examiner
The Daily Examiner It was typical to find classic brick buildings like The Daily Examiner in many older American
downtown areas. A great addition to any business district, this big three-story media building fits great in a right-hand
corner lot that Faces Main and Southern Streets. It features side and front entrances, as well as elaborate cornice trim on
all three street sides which is of course typical of older brick buildings that face busy streets. Since I come from a long
line of Journalists, this building has special importance to me.
Newspaper Boxes
Chicago Sun-Times Dismantling
General Store
The General Store From shelves brimming with all sorts of fancy goods and household supplies to big barrels of flour,
crackers, and dill pickles standing guard by the old wooden counter, the general store was a smorgasbord of smells and flavors.
The aromas of coal smoke and freshly ground coffee mingled in the air. Folks crowded around the big stove to warm-up, gossip,
and play checkers. You could always hear the bells of the big brass cash register over the most heated conversations.
Based on typical Victorian commercial buildings, This General Store captures the romance of a bygone era. With it's tall false
front wall and upstairs living quarters and bay window you'll swear you've seen this building somewhere in your rural travels.
Car Washes
Bowling Alley
Superior Bowladrome
Fort William
Post Office
US Postal Service
Merla-Mae Ice Cream Parlor
Port Arthur
F.W. Woolworth & Ice Cream Parlor
Woolworths Five & Dimes With a style and selection of items all its own, the local "five and dime" were a favorite
neighborhood haunt in small towns and cities from coast to coast as were the soda shops and ice cream parlors that were frequently
found either adjoining or right inside the store. These charming stores sold everything you can imagine: shelves of penny
candy, picture postcards, sundries, knickknacks, toys and racks of 45 rpm records. Some also served tasty eats like burgers
and ice cream sodas.
The Woolworth's Five & Dime helps bring a fondly remembered slice of the past to my little project layout. Interior lighting
keeps the joint a hopping till well after sundown and next door, the exterior stairway outside leads to the to the second-story
apartment above the ice cream shop. Thunder Bay had many such establishments till mile-after-mile of mall-after-mall and fast
food on every corner obliterated them from being.
Chinese Laundry & Barber Shop
@ The Barbershop
Shoe Store
Ace Hardware
Ace Hardware & Auto Parts
Ace Hardware Truck
Car Dealership
Krazy Ken's Car Town With big showroom windows and space for a couple of showroom models, Krazy Ken's Car Town has
proven a perfect business for my business district. Based on typical small town auto dealerships, salesrooms like Krazy Ken's
can be found across the continent.
This sharp brick building comes with a movable showroom door so I can place autos into the building. Inside, an interior light
lets customers see the shiny new vehicles and a wall separates the back office from the sales floor.
Since I collect die cast vehicles in 1:87 scale, Krazy Ken's has made a perfect showcase for my prized models.
Catalogue Showroom Building
"Fishbowl" City Bus
Appliance Sales & Service
Midtown Appliance - Sales & Service Thousands of small brick storefronts can be found in business districts across
the continent. Many of these structures were built before 1900 when even workaday buildings received ornamental styling. Traditionally,
the structures housed a shop on the ground floor and the proprietor lived in the upstairs apartment. While most of the original
businesses have long since closed, many of the storefronts continue to house a wide variety of occupants.
My Midtown Appliance Sales & Service is patterned after typical pre-1900 storefront structures. The model features an facade
complete with a decorative cornice. The double doors allow large appliances to be moved inside the shop easily and large front
windows let in plenty of light and offer room for sales displays.
