A sweet spot

March 2, 2021 by Lia Schifitto

Rochestarians are intrigued by the building which sits at 114 Field St., a historic remnant of a business that operated on a mostly residential city street. A reddit page has even been created to pull information. ‘Angelus Bake Shop’ is engraved in stone and the store-front facade makes one think of the familiar feeling of baked goods, casual neighborhood exchanges, and small business in the big city. 

What is this building’s story? Earliest documentation dates to 1902, where it was identified as a single or two-story family house. Its first bakery opened in 1905 by Frank Collins. By 1910, the building had an upstairs apartment. From 1920 to 1922, it operated as the Doughnut Shoppe, which closed under bankruptcy. 

The name that remains today though is Angelus Bakery, which opened in 1923 and remained in business until 1949. Angelus Bakery was run by German immigrant, Lorenz Hopenmuller, a baker who had worked in various Rochester bakeries since the early 1900s. Expansion and renovations to the building occurred under Hopenmuller’s ownership in the late 1920s. He lived in the apartment above with wife Barbara Schanberger until around 1950. In 1953, the Fee Brothers, local manufacturers of syrups and bitters, bought the building and used it as their production space until 1964, when they relocated to their current location on Portland Ave. In the early 1970s, a photographer bought the building and used the storefront as his lab, making his home in the upstairs unit. Today the apartment remains rented out. 

The various shops & stories 114 Field St. has hosted tells a story of entrepreneurship and creativity throughout the 20th century. What will its next life be?