A.I. Namm & Son Department Store and Offerman Building Designated. On March 15, 2005, Landmarks designated the A.I. Namm & Son Department Store and the Offerman Building, both located on Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn.

The A.I. Namm & Son Department Store, 450-458 Fulton Street, first opened in 1891 at 452 Fulton Street and gradually expanded in 1924-25 and 1928-29. Robert D. Kohn and Charles Butler created a modern design with a structural steel frame reinforced by concrete floors, Indiana limestone cladding and a horizontal tripartite division. In approving, Landmarks noted that the building is a significant architectural remnant of Brooklyn’s late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial nucleus.

Once one of the tallest buildings in Brooklyn, the Roman Revival-style Offerman Building was designed by Peter J. Lauritzen and constructed in phases in 1890 and 1893. The building is distinguished by ornate colonettes, carved-flower capitals and carved lions holding nameplates featuring Henry Offerman’s initials. In approving, Landmarks noted that the building retains much of its original character and remains one of the most impressive architectural structures in downtown Brooklyn.

LPC: A.I. Namm & Son Department Store, 450-458 Fulton Street (LP-2170) (March 15, 2005); LPC: Offerman Building, 503-13 Fulton Street (LP-2169)(March 15, 2005).