Patterson Building

Patterson Building (1922)
2014 Tulare Street

T.W Patterson was a developer in Fresno, CA at the dawning of the 20th Century. The first building he built on the present location of the T.W. Patterson Building was constructed in 1904. One of his first tenants in his new 4 story Forsythe building at Tulare and J (now Fulton) was Emil Gottschalk who occupied 30,000 square feet on the first floor for his new department store.

In 1915 Gottschalk’s moved down the street on Fulton and in 1922 the Forsythe Building was destroyed by fire. At that point Patterson decided to build a new office building at the location and the T.W Patterson building, which bears his name, began its historic identity as the pillar of life in Downtown Fresno that remains intact today.

The T.W. Patterson Building was opened in 1923. Three years later, in 1926, it became the first building in the United States to have an air conditioning system installed by the pioneering Carrier Corporation (See HPAC Engineering's site)

I. T.W. Patterson Building - 1922 2014 Tulare Street, Classical Revival, R.F. Felchlin Company, Architect.      The 8-story building housed the most glamorous of women's fashion stores, The Wonder Store. In 1964, the newly organized Downtown Club occupied the top floor. Because there were medical offices in the building, over the Tulare Street entrance there is a caduceus emblem. Marble sheaths the walls of the lobby. At the Fulton Mall

entrance, a mural of Tuscany graces the walls. The

staircase to the mezzanine is flanked by lacy metal banisters.