Father Pitt

[Update: This article has been thoroughly revised with information about the architect and date, with thanks to David Schwing.] Continuing our visits to car dealers of the past, we come to the Samson dealer. More recently it was a gallery of some sort, and now it is decaying, although part of the building appears to be still in use.

The building was put up in about 1918, as the automobile business was passing from big business to colossus of American industry. The architect was probably R. Maurice Trimble, who was hired to design a building here when the Samson Motor Company bought the land. The only uncertainty is that the building was announced as a four-storey structure, but plans often shrink on the way to execution.

The front is a feast of terra-cotta details.

Gazette Times, January 30, 1918: “One of the finest buildings devoted to the automobile business in the city will result from a sale closed recently, whereby the Atlantic Land Company has sold to H. Samson a plot of ground approximately 91×218 feet on the north side of Baum boulevard near Melwood street. The plot is in the heart of the automobile district and is situated between the Atlantic Refining Company’s building and the Kaufmann & Baer garage. The consideration was $30,000. The proposed building will be constructed over the design of Architect R. M. Trimble, bids to be received next month. It will be a brick, concrete and steel structure covering the entire plot and will cost $150,000. It is understood that the deal was negotiated by George Bros.” The 1923 Hopkins map shows 4643 Baum Boulevard belonging to Samson Motor Co., with the Atlantic Refining Co. gas station on one side and the Kaufmann & Baer garage on the other.