If you’re playing who’s who of old Astoria, few surnames are as evocative as Flavel.

Lore and mystery surrounding Capt. George Flavel and his family linger in the streets of downtown like old ghosts — leaving behind stories that could be written into a binge-worthy television drama, with little need to embellish any details.

In the early 1850s, sea captain and business mogul Flavel, with a few partners, created what historians describe as a “virtual monopoly on bar piloting and ship touring on the Columbia.”

Fortunes unfurled before him and the captain began to turn his conquests shoreward, acquiring land and properties around Astoria’s newly forming business district. His virtuosity landed him in prominent seats such as county treasurer and city councilor.

In 1885, Flavel established the First National Bank of Astoria, assigning himself the role of president.

Sensible as he was, Flavel also invested in the city — using his wealth to provide key components to its growing needs. Financial responsibility was provided by Flavel for buildings popping up around downtown Astoria, including his own three-story brick bank building on the corner of 10th and Bond streets.

He even purchased Astoria’s first fire engine and fire bell.

Though Flavel died in 1893, his name had become a major part of the small city, connecting much of the downtown core to the family.

By the 1920s, the Flavels claimed multiple downtown and residential blocks, and two mansions. The stately Victorian, towering above Duane and Eighth streets, built to capture views of their riparian empire, also took a front-row seat to the Great Astoria Fire of 1922 — narrowly missing its reach.

Though the house avoided destruction, even the luckiest and the most business-savvy couldn’t stop a major fire from spreading, and little could be done to save the bank building or others owned by the Flavels from disaster. Like everyone else, they had to rebuild.

In 1924, the family continued in the tradition of influencing the city’s development. According to the Clatsop County Historical Society, the Flavel family gave seven deeds to the city to widen the streets.

At the southeast corner of Ninth and Commercial streets, a new and more modest First National Bank building, designed by architect Emil Schacht, came together, with George Flavel’s grandson, Harry, in the vice president position. Then, just across the street, two sister buildings burst out of the opposite corner of Ninth and Commercial on properties claimed by the family’s estate.

On the north side, the Mary & Nellie (M&N) Building was named for Mary Christina Boelling Flavel and her daughter, Nellie. The concept of the one-story brick building was announced, and permits were issued in August 1924. Pacific Power & Light Co. set up shop, becoming long-term tenants for almost 50 years.

Across the street, facing the M&N Building, the Flavel Building, constructed with simplicity yet elegance, was completed 100 years ago in February 1924.

Immediately, the building filled with tenants. Astoria Florist and Bell Bros. Jewelry opened their doors in the second week of February, just in time for Valentine’s Day. The following month, Eastern Outfitting Co. held its grand opening in the Flavel Building’s easternmost shop space, with its recessed glass entry featuring a modern display case centered in its vestibule.

Though not unique to new consumer-forward architecture that was spreading across the American metropolis from New York City to Los Angeles, the art deco-inspired storefront was unlike any other in Astoria.

The building is not traced to a specific architect and, according to “Style Suggestion … For A Modern American Storefront,” an essay by American art director and journalist Steven Heller, “Despite the relentless push for uniqueness … storefront manufacturers actually preferred to build from kits or standard models that diverged only slightly from the master plan.”

Skylights bathe light into the open floor plan with an upper-level mezzanine hugging the rear section of the shop. A design nearly flawless for marketing, the overt display of merchandise and an accessible rooftop made for an easy to plan burglary scheme by a clever gang of bandits only months after the clothing retailer’s opening.

Entering through the skylight, the burglars left nearly no trace except a small glove, evidence that a woman was among the crew. Taking only fine clothing and leaving behind valuable silverware and the cash register, the crooks made away with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.

Several other shops in Oregon and Washington state were hit by the same burglars, yet it is unknown if they were ever caught — yet even without insurance on the stolen goods, Eastern Outfitting Co. managed to bounce back and continue to thrive in the space until 1952.

As time went on, members of the Flavel family succumbed to old age and death — a series of events that eventually led to the deterioration of several of their properties. The Victorian mansion avoided these acts of neglect by coming under the ownership of the Clatsop County Historical Society and several passionate historic preservationists.

However, the same could not be said for the family’s Colonial mansion on 15th Street, nor the Commercial Street storefronts. By the early 2000s, the properties were perceived as an addition to “Astoria’s heartache.”

The  Astorian described the M&N Building as “sinking like a deflating cake,” and the Flavel Building was filling with trapped pigeons. People began to wonder how one could visit the opulent Victorian family home, yet buildings connected to a family of such prestige rotted away. It didn’t add up.

Astoria’s downtown saw a significant facelift in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the restoration of the Hotel Astoria building, the Hotel Elliott and the Liberty Theatre, but only blocks away, the Flavel storefronts continued to sit empty for decades, becoming safety hazards.

Despite their states of disrepair, multiple citations and liens, the buildings had not lost their potential. Over a series of a few short years between 2015 and 2017, each property fell into the hands of new owners.

The M&N Building has since been stabilized — grants, state assistance and federal funding were all put to good use in full restoration efforts as the building went from one of Restore Oregon’s Most Endangered Places to being awarded the DeMuro Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation in 2019.

The following year, the M&N Building was nominated for a Dr. Edward Harvey Historic Preservation Award.

Today, it stands reinflated and full of shops, reconnecting the west end of Commercial Street with the downtown core. Across the street, its sister building has recently woken from a long sleep. After sitting empty for decades, the space originally home to Eastern Outfitting Co. has been filled with display windows lit up in their former glory.

This year, the two Commercial Street sisters celebrate their 100th birthdays, sparkling as intended to celebrate known local family. Period drama aside, it would take a magnum opus to fully understand the rise and fall of the Flavel presence in Astoria, which — lucky for us — Astoria’s city historian, John Goodenberger, is working on.

Word is it will be done “soon.”