The Bon Marché Building of Asheville, North Carolina

The Bon Marché Building of Asheville, North Carolina was built in 1923 by E.W. Grove for the store's owner, Solomon Lipinsky.[1] This was several years before Grove began construction on nearby Grove Arcade, one of Asheville’s most famous architectural landmarks.[2] The Bon Marché building was designed by W.L. Stoddart, a hotel architect who also designed the Battery Park Hotel and Vanderbilt Hotel.[3]

The Bon Marché
Postcard of The Bon Marché

This new building served as a larger location for the Bon Marché, originally called Lipinsky and Ellick, which was founded in downtown Asheville in the 1890s.[4] The owner, Solomon Lipinsky, was a prominent Jewish businessman and community leader in Asheville.[5] from the 1890s to 1978, nearly 90 years, the Bon Marché became the longest running department store in Asheville’s history.[6] The name Bon Marché, meaning “the good deal” or “the good market” in French, came from Le Bon Marché, one of the world’s first department stores located in Paris.[7]

In a 1938 letter to Solomon Lipinsky’s son, Lewis Lipinsky, in preparation for the store’s 50th anniversary, Asheville author Thomas Wolfe says “…Bon Marché is such a landmark in Asheville life that if I ever heard anything had happened to it I think I should feel almost as if Beaucatcher Mountain had been violently removed from the landscape by some force of nature. I know that as long as I can remember, at any rate, it has always stood with the women folk at home for the best in merchandise and fashion…”[8]

After The Bon Marché Store moved across the street in 1937, Ivey’s Department Store took over the Bon Marché building. Ivey’s Department Store became a staple in downtown Asheville during the mid- 20th century.

1985 saw the renovation of the Bon Marché building, which restored it to a more historically accurate condition. This renovation removed some changes made during the 1950s and 1960s, such as a semi-circular awning, which was incompatible with the building’s original style. In that same year, the Bon Marché building became the Haywood Park Hotel.

References

  1. ↑ http://toto.lib.unca.edu/booklets/live_and_invest/jpeg/lai0014.jpg
  2. ↑ "E.W. Grove & Grove Arcade: A Brief History" (PDF). Grove Arcade. 2006.
  3. ↑ Angie Clifton; Marvin C. Housworth; Adam Ronan (2009). "Stoddart, William Lee (1868 - 1940)". North Carolina Architects & Builders: A Biographical Dictionary. NCSU Library. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  4. ↑ http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/lipinsky/default_lipinsky.html
  5. ↑ "WNC's 50 Most Influential People, Past & Present", WNC Magazine, January 2008, retrieved April 18, 2011
  6. ↑ http://toto.lib.unca.edu/web_exhibits/family_store/jpg_panels_jewish_businesses/BonMarche_mod.jpg
  7. ↑ Souvenir of the Bon Marché, founded by Aristide Boucicaut, Lipinsky Family Papers, Special Collections, D.H. Ramsey Library, UNC Asheville, 1896, archived from the original on 2006-11-14
  8. ↑ http://toto.lib.unca.edu/web_exhibits/family_store/jpg_panels_jewish_businesses/BonMarche_mod.jpg

Coordinates: 35°35′43″N 82°33′17″W / 35.5954°N 82.5548°W / 35.5954; -82.5548

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