20. Washington Street - West Side - Berkeley Springs Historical Walk

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On the Washington Street side of the corner with Fairfax, the structure attached to Mountain Laurel was constructed by W.H. Young in 1904 for the Bank of Berkeley Springs. A built-in bank safe still exists. Dark brick that is also the original facade of the corner building, shows on upper levels under later yellow brick. Fluted red terra cotta Corinthian pilasters are sad reminders of the once elegant and detailed facade. Capital of window pilasters is decorated with egg and dart. The building now houses the law offices of Harmison and Associates.

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The next structure north evolved from a brick building which held various businesses in the 1880s including Green’s Drugstore then C.W. Johnson’s store. There was once a substantial exterior staircase granting people entrance to the second floor office of The News. In 1936 Hudson Yost opened the Fairfax Restaurant in this space. The elaborate soda fountain back bar still in the building was added at this time and bears the German spelling of the Yost name across the top. Under various owners, the Fairfax Restaurant continued as a downtown mainstay until the 1990s. Bath Bookworks opened in 2002. The adjacent building was constructed in 1905.

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The alley that divides the Washington Street block nearly in half once led into the courtyard area of the Fairfax Inn. To the north, the land was covered in First National Tannery buildings owned by the DeFords. The tannery closed in 1893; the buildings were damaged in the 1898 fire and razed over the next several years. Tari’s Cafe occupies three separate buildings. Berkeley Springs, West VirginiaThe southernmost structure was built in 1913; the adjacent concrete building in 1922. At various times, these storefronts held restaurants. The third building, housing Tari’s Gallery dining room since 2000, was built in 1947. In 1922, an open air theater operated on what was then an empty lot.

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The Star Theatre is located on the site of the tannery’s main building. The current brick structure was built by W.H. Young in 1916 as a car storage garage and repair shop for the Johnson family and then converted to a movie theater in1928 with the addition of the front section which shows traditional design for that period. The southernmost front room housed the town’s telephone switchboard from 1937 through the 1960s. The marquee was added in 1949; it became the Star in 1977.

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