The main block's form transitioned from a rectangle at its base to an L-shape on the upper floors. The building consisted of a six-story block, measuring approximately 137 by 125-feet, joined with a lower one-story portion on its southwest side. At this time, in the wake of the Chicago Tribune tower competition of the early 1920s, newspapers large and small across the US were building modern, steel-frame skyscrapers to mark their central positions in their communities. Owner of the Bellingham Publishing Company, Sidney Albert "Sam" Perkins, commissioned Bellingham architect Frederick Stanley Piper (1883-1950) to design a new, high-rise home for his Bellingham Herald newspaper. With its Bellingham Herald electric sign emblazoned on its roof, the newspaper headquarters stood as a constant presence in the city's central business district. The building's Gothic styling was consistent with many important commercial and institutional buildings in the Pacific Northwest and the influential Chicago Tribune Tower completed by Hood and Howells between 19. The Bellingham Herald Building's exterior was sheathed in terra cotta tiles, also considered good for fire prevention. ) The early use of gypsum would not be surprising, as the President of the newspaper chain that owned the Bellingham Herald, Sidney Albert Perkins (1865-1955), was also the Chairman of the Board of the San Francisco-based Standard Gypsum Company. (See Katie Chase, " National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Bellingham Herald Building," accessed. This notable Gothic Revival Style skyscraper contained an earthquake-tolerant steel frame and some of the earliest fire-resistant gypsum-board wall construction on the Pacific Coast.
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