The 808 was an undistinguished building on the Mall, the sort of structure no one notices until there's nothing like it around anymore. A WW1 era in the Star-Trib archives shows that it began life as a four-story structure, with four more floors added later. (You could still see the ragged brickwork above the fourth floor, indicating where the old cornice had been.) In the late 20s they remodeled the lobby, filling it with with Art Deco motifs. Real Art Deco, not the Moderne stuff people often confuse with true Deco.) Polished brass elevator doors; terra-cotta faces. An elegant interval between the street and the offices above.
The offices were noted for one detail: fireplaces. In 1998 it was perhaps the last office building in the city core with fireplaces, and the surviving tenant - a law firm - held on until the last minute. Can't blame them. The street has underdone tremendous change in the last few years, with the smaller-scale buildings dropping for big blank towers of no particular distinction.
To the right - the elevator doors.
No one fought to save the 808 - you have to pick your battles, and this was a losing one. Too bad. I discovered this lobby just a month before it came down, and it felt like discovering some mute aged silent-movie star in a nursing home just before she died.
This is the hallway to the street. Play your own Citizen Kane scene.
