Zapp Building

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Zapp Building in Fayette County. Now, every good building has a story, and this one starts even before the building itself. Hugo Zapp, a German native, came to Fayetteville and set up his mercantile business in 1865.

Decades pass. Business carries on. And then, in 1900, fire comes calling, and it burns his wooden store right there on that very site.

Now, you might expect a man to step back after something like that. Hugo Zapp did not step back. He stepped up.

Way up. He had a two-story brick building constructed on that same ground, and he made sure everyone in Fayetteville would know what kind of building it was going to be. The intent, plain and simple, was for it to be the finest structure in the city.

Romanesque revival style, with decorative brickwork laid out in a checkerboard pattern. This wasn't just a store. This was a statement.

Well, the building outlasted its ambitions and its rivals both. Come 1915, another merchant by the name of F.C. Knippel bought the store.

And the Knippel family, they didn't just pass through. They operated that store for more than fifty years. Hugo Zapp built for the ages, and it seems like the ages were happy to oblige.

What the marker says

German native Hugo Zapp established his mercantile business in Fayetteville in 1865. In 1900, after a fire had burned his wooden store at this site, Zapp had this 2-story brick building constructed. Intended to be the finest structure in the city, the Romanesque revival building features decorative brickwork in a checkerboard pattern. In 1915 another merchant, F.C. Knippel, bought the store, and it was operated by his family for more than fifty years. RTHL - 1983