128 pp. illustrated trade catalogue for copper store front designs, from the Kawneer Company in Michigan, profusely illustrated throughout with drawings and photographs. Oblong 12mo (5 7/8 x 9 inches). Original cloth-backed publisher's stiff blue cardstock wrappers with raised type to front cover. Some very light wear and abrasions to covers including some wear at top of spine, two leaves near end of catalogue lacking lower page corners, pp. 24-25 with some small areas of loss where the pages were once stuck together, small spot to fore-edge of volume, overall very good. Niles, Michigan: The Kawneer Company, circa 1928.

The Kawneer Company was originally founded in 1906 by Francis Plym (1869-1940), a Swedish-born architect who moved to the United States as a child and earned his architecture degree from the University of Illinois College of Engineering in 1897. In 1906, Plym patented a system of metal framing for plate glass storefronts and founded the Kawneer Company in Kansas City, Missouri as a sheet metal shop to produce storefronts and other metalwork. He moved the company to Niles, Michigan in 1907. During the 1920s, Kawneer became one of the first manufacturers to use aluminum in architectural products, and by the late 1930s, was one of the largest American users of aluminum for architectural purposes.

This catalogue was aimed towards contractors, "with the hope it will be valuable to them when planning and figuring Store Fronts for their clients." The introductory page titled "Free Service to Contractors" instructs them to "take this book to your prospective client and show him the many designs illustrated which are most suitable for his particular line of business...If you will let us hear from you concerning any store front work you have, our organization will cooperate with you fully."

Another introductory page details the "Kawneer Resilient Store Front Construction", and is followed by some detailed drawings of the metal construction, as well as pages showing design suggestions for a range of storefronts, including men's and women's wear shops, shoe stores, furniture stores, jewelry stores, drugstores, hardward stores, and car dealerships. The design suggestions are a mix of drawings, plans, and photographs of existing shops. Each illustration is accompanied by a descriptive paragraph of text with notes on window display, dimension, additional building materials, lighting, bulkheads, doorways, and other details. Some of the drawings are highlighted with copper printing details to show off the metal frameworks.

The most extensive catalogue produced by the Kawneer company, combining together several earlier catalogues produced for individual types of establishments. As of March 2026, OCLC locates only a single holding of this catalogue at the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

Book ID: 53654

Price: $950.00