In 1872 George Krause opened a brewery on this site. In 1884, Herman Hardinghaus took over brewery operations. Hardinghaus was the son of a brewer, and had already run breweries in several other cities. By 1886, the Northern Brewery had become prosperous enough that Hardinghaus was able to construct this building to house the establishment.[2] The building was located over a natural spring, which was used by the brewery to make its beer. However, due to the consolidation of national breweries, smaller local establishments like Northern Brewery were unable to compete.[3] The last beer brewed here was in 1908, when brewer Ernest Rehberg ceased production. Rehberg ran an ice business from this location for a time, using the natural spring water as a source. The building was later converted to a creamery, and in 1922 was used as the Ann Arbor Foundry.[2]
The Ann Arbor Foundry was particularly notable as it was a long-standing partnership operated by Charles Baker and Tom Cook, an African-American and a Jewish immigrant from Russia. Their small-scale foundry flourished for almost 50 years, and provided career opportunities for minorities. The partnership lasted until Cook's death in 1971. In 1972, after a state citation for air pollution, the foundry was closed. The building remained vacant until 1978 when the architectural firm of Fry/Peters renovated it for office space.[2]
The building has been occupied since 2009 by the Tech Brewery, a startup incubator. Cybersecurity firm Duo Security started in the Tech Brewery before its eventual acquisition by Cisco.[4][5]
Description
The Northern Brewery is a two-story, brick commercial structure with a Richardsonian Romanesque-inspired facade. The original portion of the structure is a rectangular section measuring thirty-eight by fifty-four feet. The facade is three bays wide, with each bay containing segmental-arch or round-head window areas separated by pilasters. The center archway on the first floor originally housed the entrance, but was converted into a window during the 1970s renovation. The window areas have rough-cut stone lintels. A central window construction on the second floor contains a distinctive arch panel filled with basket weave brick.[3]
The building has several additions, including a two-story, 38 ft × 32 ft (11.6 m × 9.8 m) rear ell and a single-story 52 ft × 110 ft (16 m × 34 m) block addition on the side.[3]
