Shopbell & Company
# Shopbell & Company

Shopbell & Company was an American architectural firm located in Evansville, Indiana, in the United States.

## History

The firm was founded as Harris & Shopbell in 1897 and still had that name in 1905. The firm later became Clifford Shopbell & Co. (ca 1910), and later still (ca 1916 - 1925) Shopbell, Fowler & Thole. The partners designed buildings during the 1910s and 1920s, mainly in Evansville, but also elsewhere in Indiana and Kentucky. Many of its works survive and are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic $Places.^{:1–28}$

Evansville, Indiana, historic preservation staff described Clifford Shopbell and Company as "probably the most prominent--or at least the most active" local architectural firm in Evansville's Downtown. They credit several of its works as showing "clear understanding of program and ceremonial demands", note the firm's use of Prairie School design, and commend it for "one creditable Sullivanesque essay," (the Fellwock Auto Company Building). They also note the Indiana Bank and the Masonic Temple in Classical Revival mode, "along with one or two Chicago School buildings".

In 1919, Clifford Shopbell & Co. built the Evansville Municipal Market.

By 1905, Harris & Shopbell had already built 9 Carnegie libraries: Shelbyville, Greensburg, Franklin, Seymour, Salem, Princeton, Alt. Vernon and Poseyville, IN, and Henderson, KY; as Clifford Shopbell, the firm went on to build several more. Illinois preservation staff record that Shopbell also built the Illinois libraries at Carmi in 1914, Grayville in 1913, and Marion in 1916. Illinois preservation staff called Clifford Shopbell "the dominant architect of Carnegie libraries in Indiana, with at least fifteen of that state's commissions". The preservation staff state frankly that:

    "Like many architects who sought Carnegie Library commissions, Shopbell welcomed publicity. When the Clarion-News of Princeton, Indiana, interviewed him in 1903, Shopbell mentioned that he was currently building four Carnegie libraries, and said that although smaller libraries were usually constructed of pressed brick, since his firm had "an inside price on stone", if Princeton acted quickly, they too could afford a stone library. The firm of Harris and Shopbell was selected and Princeton built a stone library. As the Illinois libraries built by Shopbell are all of brick, his inside price on stone must not have lasted into the 1910s."

## Principal partners

The founding partners were Clifford Shopbell and William J. Harris.

Harris was the senior partner; he was born in Louisville, KY, graduating from the high school there in 1887. After an "apprenticeship" in architecture, Harris opened an office in Evansville in 1895, and formed a partnership with Shopbell in 1897. He was a member of the Freemasons, the Knights of Pythias, and the Elks. He married Bell Hawley in 1894.

Shopbell was born in Princeton, IN, on December 8, 1871. From 1889, Shopbell spent five years in the Indianapolis office of architect W. Scott Moore. In 1894 he moved to Evansville, working with architect C. A. Brehmer. In 1897 he married Winifred Dunlap of Indianapolis, and joined Harris to form their architectural partnership. Shopbell was a member of the Freemasons, as well as belonging to the Shriners and the Knights of Pythias. Shopbell died in 1939.

* Masonic Temple (Franklin, Indiana), now Johnson County Museum of History
* Old Fellwock Auto Company, Evansville
* Masonic Temple (Evansville, Indiana)

## Properties constructed

Works include (with attribution):

Works by Clifford Shopbell and related companies :

| Building | Location | Company | Listing |
| - | - | - | - |
| Albion Apartments, "model flats", 1910-11 | 701 Court St. Evansville | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| American Trust and Savings Bank (Indiana Bank), 1903, enlarged 1914 | 524-530 Main St Evansville | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| Bernardin-Johnson House | 17 Johnson Pl. Evansville | Thole, Edward Joseph; Clifford Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| Bitterman Building | 202-204 Main St. Evansville | Clifford Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| John W. Boehne House | 1119 Lincoln Ave. Evansville | Shopbell, Clifford & Co. | NRHP |
| Buckingham Apartments (demolished) | 314-316 SE 3rd St. Evansville | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| Busse House | 120 SE 1st St. Evansville | Harris & Shopbell | NRHP |
| Court Building (Furniture Building) | 123-125 NW 4th St. Evansville | Harris & Shopbell | NRHP |
| Evansville Municipal Market | 813 Pennsylvania St. Evansville | Shopbell, Clifford, & Co. | NRHP |
| Old Fellwock Auto Company | 214 NW 4th St. Evansville | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| Fellwock Garage | 315 Court St. Evansville | Harris & Shopbell Co. | NRHP |
| Greensburg Carnegie Public Library | 114 N. Michigan Ave. Greensburg, IN | Shopbell, Clifford, & Co. | NRHP |
| Michael D. Helfrich House | 700 Helfrich Lane Evansville | Shopbell, Clifford, & Co. | NRHP |
| Hose House No. 12 | 1409 First Ave. Evansville | Harris & Shopbell | NRHP |
| Huber Motor Sales Building | 215-219 SE 4th St. Evansville | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| Ingle Terrace | 609-619 Ingle St. Evansville | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| Kuebler-Artes Building | 327 Main St. Evansville | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| Masonic Temple (Evansville, IN), 1912 | 301 Chestnut St. Evansville | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| Masonic Temple (Franklin, IN), 1922 | 135 N. Main St. Franklin, IN | Shopbell, Fowler, and Thole | NRHP |
| Oak Hill Cemetery, 1901 | Evansville | Harris & Shopbell | NRHP |
| Rose Terrace, "model flats", 1910-11 | 301-313 NW 7th St. Evansville, | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum, 1916-17 | 350 Court St. Evansville | Shopbell, Clifford & Co. | NRHP |
| Van Cleave Flats | 704-708 Court St. Evansville | Shopbell & Co. | NRHP |
| One or more works | Boonville Public Square Historic District, Boonville, IN | Harris & Shopbell | NRHP |
| Henderson County Public Library (1904) | Contributing building in South Main & South Elm Streets Historic District, Henderson, KY | Shopbell & Harris | NRHP |
| One or more works | West Side Historic District, Shelbyville, Indiana | Harris & Shopbell | NRHP |
