Lions' heads watch from the Pepper Building's terra cotta. This historic commercial building in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, was designed by the architectural firm Northup and O'Brien and built in 1928. It rises six stories as a brick building with Art Deco style detailing.
You can look up at its flat, parapeted roof and take in the terra cotta decorative elements that the designers placed on the exterior. Among those terra cotta details are lions' heads and pilasters, specific ornaments that frame and articulate the facade. The building originally housed a department store, a use that helps explain its scale and the decorative attention at the facade.
The Pepper Building's history was recognized when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. As you stand here, note how the combination of six stories, brick construction, and Art Deco detailing reads together to announce a 1928 commercial purpose. The names Northup and O'Brien are on the design, the lions' heads and pilasters remain on the facade, and the flat parapeted roof completes the silhouette.
Picture the terra cotta lions' heads and pilasters framing the flat, parapeted roofline above.