Leader Block, Carman

The Leader Block, which comprises two adjacent structures on Carman’s main street, is a major example of the kind of commercial establishments that provided townsfolk and farming families with a variety of services and products. The buildings are also key local examples of the kind of architectural vocabulary used on this kind of building in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—in this case the handsome and robust Romanesque Revival style.
As was typical of the style, the buildings are of brick construction, which was exploited by its designer for its great visual effects, seen here in a wealth of features and details—complex roofline edging, corbel tables, brick surrounds over windows and wrapping around the building, and pilasters capped with limestone crowns. Architect Edmund Watson, working in 1897-98 for owner Mr. Jamieson, certainly created a fully realized version of the style.