Built in 1892 in downtown Bellingham, the Barlow Building stands at 211 W
Holly St. in the central portion of Bellingham's Central Business District.
The building remains as one of the few, intact single-story commercial
buildings along the Central Business District's main thoroughfare of W.
Holly Street. The period of significance for the Barlow Building, 1892 to
1925, encompasses the building's date of construction (1892) and formative
period of use as a grocery store, bar and seminal function as a leather
goods specialty store, culminating in a front facade remodel indicating the
store's success and permanence within the community.
The Barlow Building draws its architectural significance from its prominent
and stylistically distinctive front facade which was designed to maximize
the visibility of the modest structure amongst the surrounding buildings.
The compact, rectangular, single-story brick masonry building fills the
southeast 25' of two lots with a total footprint dimension of 25' by 110'.
The narrow, primary front, northeast facade faces W. Holly Street. Employing
un-reinforced brick masonry walls, a broad storefront with plate glass and
leaded windows, decorative front facade brickwork, a tall, articulated
parapet, and a flat roof, the Barlow Building present an intact,
character-defining example of a single-storied commercial building within
Bellingham's Central Business District.
For more information see the
Barlow Building National Register of Historic Places Nomination.