Thanks for this very informative post.rich wrote: ↑06 Apr 2024 17:40 Centennials generally ran about 19,000 sf. There was a 13K sf version that went into small towns and urban neighborhoods. They looked stubby because having a narrower building screwed up the proportions. It was common for these to have siding rather than brick, but the proportions still seemed off. There were a few larger Centennials—I’ve only ever seen a very few and only been inside one—they were probably about 25K sf. Again, the proportions seemed off—the stores seem too wide and the weathervane cupola seems too small.
Nominally colonial architecture was very popular in suburban subdivisions from the 30s into the 70s. Adding some colonial decor to a strip center or retail building was common in the 50s and 60s esp. in what were then upscale or moderately upscale neighborhoods, although this began even earlier—the Shaker Square shopping complex in Cleveland which opened in 1929 and received additions in the 40s and 50s had this look and has retained it despite many ups and downs. Forest Hills Plaza in East Cleveland, Ohio was built 1n 1939 and kept the colonial look for many years but has been altered in recent decades. There are countless other examples—the Park and Shop in DC and Edmondson Village in Baltimore are examples.
I would guess that many chains had colonial prototypes—I’ve seen Acmes like this. The Pick-n-Pay chain in Cleveland had at least one free standing store like this. National Tea had a very few stores like this—I recall one in Alliance, Ohio.
It is a shame that colonial architecture fell out of favor sometime in the 1970s. Not only do I love this style of architecture, the A&P Centennial is my favorite store design of all-time. I believe that Acme's colonial prototype was called the "Colonial Cottage," although that may simply have been an unofficial name given to it. IMO, the shopping center housing the ShopRite of Chatham (which was discussed in the thread about the history of ShopRite locations) has a quasi-colonial design; that strip mall opened in April 1970. What makes the building that currently houses the ShopRite of Millburn (which opened as a supermarket in September 1960 and has been a ShopRite since December 1974) so unique is that I have never known of another instance in which a different chain built a store that was almost (though not quite 100%) identical to a Centennial.
Regarding the small Centennials, I did not realize that some of these were originally built with siding. (I always figured that the A&Ps with siding on them resulted from attempts to retrofit stores built in the pre-Centennial Era.) I actually think the Centennial prototype could have worked well with larger stores had the middle, triangular portion of the roof and the cupola & weathervane all been made proportionally bigger. Out of curiosity, where was that large Centennial (i.e., the one where you went inside) located? And do you know if it was a Centennial that had been expanded?