Vignettes
/ Exchange
District / Bannatyne
Chatfield Distributors
(Franklin Press
Building)
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This brick office building is a good example of the detail
that J.H.G. Russell used in both his grand works and his
smaller structures. Better known for Knox and Westminster
Churches and the Ashdown House, Russell designed the structure
in 1904 for Franklin Press, a printing, publishing, lithography
shop that also carried a full range of office supplies.
The company thrived on the printing needs of the teeming
commercial district.
By 1926 the market had shrunk and Franklin Press struggled,
along with its many competitors. A wholesale tobacconist
took over the building and for a time during the 1940s and
1950s another office supply company occupied the building. In
1967, it became the home of Chatfield Distributors, manufacturer’s
agents and importers.
