- 313 Franklin Street SE
c.1841
Listed as Resource #78 in Twickenham Historic District
The “Huntsville Mercury Building” is a three-story commercial building dating from the mid-nineteenth
century that has been renovated in the modern era for use as offices and apartments. Perhaps the city’s
best preserved antebellum commercial building, the earliest record is that it housed the offices Huntsville
Advocate, a Whig newspaper edited by William Bibb Figures. It then housed the printing offices of the
Mercury newspaper through 1913 and Huntsville Publishing Company in 1921. The narrow brick building
features a gable roof with standing seam metal panels and parapets, flush eaves, twelve-over-twelve sash
windows on the upper floors, and a six-over-six sash window at street level. The upper levels feature
original metal balconies supported by ornamental brackets and served by paired glazed doors surmounted
by transoms. The primary entrance at street level features a recessed portico with a five-pane transom and
set of wooden steps. The building has a full basement level. A narrow service alley separates this building
from the adjacent building at 309 Franklin Street. The north and rear elevations features twelve-over-twelve
sash windows on the upper floors. An entrance is located on the rear elevation. A brick paved sidewalk
serves the street level entrance. This property was included within the 1972 NRHP boundaries. From the
street, the building appears as it did in 1972 [photo #27]. (C)
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