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NPS Form 10-9004 OA48 Appwafftm Y024-wre United States Department of the Interior Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page South Bend Brewing Association St. Joseph County IN NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION The former South Bend Brewing,Association plant, opened in 1905, . faces the busy thoroughfare of West'Lincolnway in an area of mixed residential, commercial, and light industrial use. Immediately east (see photos 1,3) past a vacant lot are tracks of the former New York Central Railroad. - To the west across Colle'ge.Street is the company's former bottling facility (photo 6), constructed in 1910. The main, plant, a large and irregularly shaped brick building,',' rises approximately four stories at its main north facade (photos 1,.2), which features squared corner towers west andeast and 67 crenelated parapet.- A corbelled cornice runs along I the'front,'and each of the towers.itself has a small tower at the outer corner with a corbelled peak.The window openings, segmental- and flat - arched with limestone sills, are now almost all boarded; , a . few are bricked. The original facade.appears to have been rather plain; today a one-story glass -paneled storefront added in the 1950s dominates. Faded ghost.signs from the 1960s arevisible on the, entire facade above the storefront. The four-story section -of the building is trapetoidal, owing to'the north side following the parallel of Lincolnway, 'which angle's -west northwest out of town. Along the east elevation (photo 3)- the -building becomes three stories- (but essential ' ly the same height),,then'one; that portion sports a large cylindrical -brick smokestack. At the southwest of that ' section (photo 4) is a somewhat higher one-story secti6n*with a post -World War II addition. Within the L formed by the north and east elevations -nestles another one-story.section with a loading dock; it features some Craftsman detailsk chiefly a hipped roof with a wide overhang and knee braces. The area of the original building behind the added storefront has been used for numerous activities over the years and has been remodeled a great deal on the first and second floors. Beyond that, however, the building's interior remains largely untouched. The huge metal tank on the topmost levellwhere the brewing process began remains in place. These areas were not maintained for decades, during which time generations . of pigeons have called'it home. Virtually.all the original window -sashes that were removed when the openings were boarded or'bricked remain stacked inside.