While it may not be the most famous building ever located on the corner of Fourth and Liberty Streets (that honor likely was the old Courier-Journal building, later the Will-Sales building that was town down for the Brown & Williamson Tower), the Husch Bros. Department Store across the street helped to create a quality streetscape.
The top historic photo was taken in 1947 when Husch Bros. was the main tenant. You can take a photo tour of the retro-modern interior of the department store in 1940 here. In earlier views like the one below, you can see the anchor tenant was a Woolworth’s Five & Dime. (Another view here.) Today, of course, we know the corner as the home to Borders Books at 4th Street Live.
You might remember way back when we proposed a little addition to the Borders building.
What’s really interesting is how the southern two corners of Fourth and Liberty streets (then it was called Green Street) help to frame the street view. The Husch Bros. building and the Will Sales building both feature rounded corners that act to pull pedestrians down the street. The vista they create must have been quite attractive.
