Lerners Building
Originally constructed in 1931 to house Lerner’s, a women’s apparel store, the building at 533 South Broadway is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property to the Broadway Theater and Commercial District. Engineer Philip Barker designed the building in the Art Deco style. The two-story building was characterized by cast stone cladding and was organized into three bays, featuring an expansive recessed balcony with boldly colored tile details flanked by two slim bronze-framed windows with stylized floral stone details.
The next tenant, Grayson’s department store, modified the building around 1944, installing a new Moderne façade that concealed the original stone surface. The new, windowless façade was clad in book matched marble panels and featured a prominent intaglio, an incised carving unusual in an architectural setting, of a classical maiden.