Erected in 1929, the Montgomery Ward Building at 52-54 Church Street brings Classical Revival to the pedestrian mall of downtown Burlington, Vermont. Erected in 1929, this former Montgomery Ward department store is a fine example of Classical Revival architecture and is the best-preserved of the small number of original Montgomery Ward stores built by that retailer in the state. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, the building occupies the east side of the pedestrian mall, roughly midway between Cherry and Bank Streets.
You can see it is a two-story masonry structure three bays wide, with an exterior of concrete and brick. The ground floor now hosts modern storefronts finished mainly in brick, while the second-story facade is faced in concrete finished to imitate stone. Each bay is set with a Chicago-style three-part window with rounded upper corners, and a terra-cotta panel above; the central bay’s panel honors Montgomery Ward’s 'Spirit of Progress' emblem, designed for the company by J. Massey Rhind.
J. Massey Rhind designed that emblem you can still spot above a pedestrian mall built for browsing.