Feibleman’s Department Store

• Designed by: Samuel G. Wiener Sr. for Jones, Roessle, Olschner and Wiener
• Design year: 1923

The Feiblemans were a family of merchants headquartered out of New Orleans who desired to branch out in 1923 to Shreveport, where the economy was booming. Unlike the Canal Street location, the Shreveport store would be built-to-suit by a developer and leased to Feiblemans.  The developers of the property at the corner of Texas Street and Louisiana Ave. were Sam Wiener Jr. and his brother-in-law Leon Loeb.  Sam Wiener Jr’s son, Samuel G. Wiener, had just returned to the United States in 1923 from post-graduate studies in a Parisian atelier and became a full partner with the architectural firm of Jones, Roeselle, Olschner and Wiener which was an ideal choice to serve as the architect for the department store. 1923 was, by any measure, a banner year for 28-year-old Samuel G. Wiener.

The building was designed by the Shreveport partners of Olschner and Wiener and is a wonderful multi-story (four floors and a basement) Beaux-Arts edifice. Olschner was primarily responsible for the plans and Wiener for the exterior. The durable building was structured using cast-in-place reinforced concrete and faced with a combination of brick, stone, cast iron, and terra cotta. Architecturally, the building is organized in tripartite fashion—rusticated base, shaft, and capital (or cap). The three floors above the street-level floor are visually tied together with colossally-scaled, fluted Corinthian pilasters. The “attic” over the pilasters facing Texas Street is topped with 4 stone urns to define the principal façade.