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It looks like Dorothy Gale鈥檚 house overshot Oz and plopped down right in the middle of downtown Albany.

There is a house 鈥� an actual former residence 鈥� sitting on top of the Bikman Building at First Avenue and Ellsworth Street as if it just landed there from Somewhere Else.

Not to worry. There are no feet sticking out from the foundation. No witches were harmed in the making of what Margaret Bikman calls 鈥渢he Penthouse.鈥�

That was the name the Bikman family gave to the house her grandfather, Joseph H. Bikman, placed (however incongruously) on top of the two-story retail and apartment building he built in 1924. He promised his wife, Anna, and their four children that they would live in a regular house when they moved to Albany in 1912.

However, Margaret said he couldn鈥檛 afford both the downtown building and the family home. So he solved the problem by putting the house on top of the building. There it remains, although uninhabited for more than 50 years.

Margaret, now an entertainment reporter for the Bellingham Herald in Washington, said she visited the house when she was a child in the late 1950s, but it was abandoned even then. Nonetheless, it remains a family heirloom.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the wallpaper on my computer,鈥� she said.

Her father, George Bikman, and his three siblings grew up in the house.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e the ones who started calling it 鈥榯he Penthouse鈥� even though, really, it鈥檚 not much of a penthouse.鈥�

Peggy Kowal, the clerk at the Albany Regional Museum, said old-timers still remember watching the family wind their way from floor to floor with

their groceries as they made their way to the house on the roof.

Joseph and Anna Bikman were Russian immigrants who came to the United States, landing first in Boston, around the turn of the last century. They moved to Coos Bay before settling in Albany. They owned and operated a women鈥檚 tailor shop.

After the construction of the Bikman Building, their business was known as Bikman鈥檚 Ladies Shop. The upper floors were rented out as apartments. The basement was a beauty parlor named Edna鈥檚 Style Shop, which, historians believe, was run by Anna Bikman. The building also housed Albany鈥檚 F.W. Woolworth Dime Store.

The last Bikman family member to operate the tailoring business retired in 1980. A small replica of the store is an exhibit at the Albany Regional Museum.

The story doesn鈥檛 stop there. No tale of the corner of First and Ellsworth would be complete without some mention of Louis Verireck.

While a scattered few people remember the Bikmans, it鈥檚 a safe bet no one remembers Louis and his barbershop. Even his youngest customers would have to be well over 100 years old by now. Yet for a long time preceding the Bikman Building, Verireck cropped hair and held court on the corner of First and Ellsworth.

Shave and a haircut, two bits? Louis beat that.

Two bits equals a quarter, so according to the old song (the lyrics dating back to 1939 and credited to Milton Berle, Dan Shapiro and Lester Lee), that鈥檚 only four shaves for a dollar. Museum artifacts and records tell how Louis advertised 鈥渟ix shaves for a dollar.鈥�

But wait. There鈥檚 more. He even threw in 鈥渁 clean towel with every shave.鈥�

Louis鈥� generosity apparently knew few bounds. Regulars also got their own shaving mugs with their names on them. If that still wasn鈥檛 enough, he offered 鈥�10 or 12 baths.鈥�

Once a customer got a 16-cent shave and a clean towel from Louis, he could go next door to the cobbler shop. According to museum records, it was 鈥渞un by a bachelor who played the fiddle.鈥�

The upper floors of the Bikman Building are now as empty as its 鈥減enthouse.鈥� The corner of First and Ellsworth is dominated by Sid Stevens Jewelers. The store offers an array of fine jewelry 鈥� but no clean towels or fiddle concerts.

鈥淏uilding Curiosity鈥� investigates intriguing, historical and obscure tidbits of the built environment. Tom Henderson is a reporter for the Daily Journal of Commerce. Contact him at 503-802-7226 or [email protected].