King & Pettersen Tile & Marble

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When King & Pettersen Tile & Marble Co. built its showroom/office at 539 6th. Ave.,
the firm incorporated their colorful tiles into the building's facade,  The firm's name is
boldly displayed across the front of the building in blue and white
terracotta tiles.

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HUNTINGTON -- In the early 1900s, many Huntington homes and business places were
decorated with colorful tile produced by the King & Pettersen Tile and Marble Co.

The company was a partnership between J. Howard King and Peter M. Pettersen, who had
lived in Ashland before moving to Huntington. King was the firm's president, and Pettersen
 was vice president. Originally, their business was located at 1113 4th Ave.

In 1924, the partners built a showroom/office structure on the front of a house at 539 6th Ave.
Built in 1902, the house had been the residence of Joseph E. Martin and his wife, Nina.
Martin was the chief train dispatcher for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway in Huntington.

Today, the former King & Pettersen building is one of the most unusual - and surely the most
colorful - structures in Huntington. The building has a large show window and two
entrances - one to the showroom on the left and one to the upstairs on the right.
The show window and both doorways are surrounded by brightly colored tile.

The firm's name is boldly displayed across the front of the
 building in blue and white terracotta enameled tiles.

In the early 1940s, King & Pettersen moved out, and D.D. Carney moved his popular
candy company from Walnut Street to the former tile showroom. In the mid-1960s
 Carney retired, and Town & Country Interiors took over the building. In 1978,
 the building became home to The Salon Farouche, a hair care shop, but the
sign across the front of the building still displays the King & Pettersen name.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on June 19, 2017.

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