It Was Right There All Along - State and Main Northwest Corner

On the Northwest corner of the intersection is a red-painted Federal-style building which happens to be the oldest merchant building still standing in Montpelier. It escaped the great fire of 1875 largely because it was one of the only things made of brick on Main Street at that time. If we could return to the 1970s – not that we’d want to – we would not be looking at this gorgeously preserved example of early Federal-style architecture. Instead, we’d see an unremarkable structure covered in aluminum siding, with walls of plate glass windows wrapped around the ground floor and surrounded by sheets of some type of dark Formica material. It was the site of another popular clothing store called the Vogue Shop.

Those of us who didn’t know any better thought nothing of its appearance at the time, but in the 1980s it was gloriously restored to its original 1826 appearance. Looking now at the beautiful brick façade and ground-floor bay windows, it’s hard to believe anyone ever had the nerve to cover it up.

That brings us to the end of Tour #2 in this series. I know I’m leaving you in the middle of the street, so if you are intending to keep walking along Main Street toward the Winooski River, you might want to skip on to Tour #5, which starts at Charlie-O’s World Famous a steps past this point on Main street. It’s a tour that starts at a bar and ends at another one. What’s better than that, right?! Hope to see you there!