The Joel M. Pruyn Block is a highly intact, one-story commercial building whose cream brick main façade displays a Romanesque Revival style influence. Nothing is known about the persons who designed and built Pruyn's new commercial block, but any competent mason or architect of the period could have produced the design. The Pruyn Block's arched windows and the linked arcade-like brickwork that surrounds them are both features of the Romanesque Revival style, which was popular in Wisconsin from 1855 until 1885. Although it is most commonly associated with churches and public buildings, the Romanesque Revival style was also a popular style for commercial buildings during this period.

Joel M. Pruyn was one of the two sons of Joel and Sarah Pruyn, who moved with their sons to Lodi from New York state in 1858. Joel Pruyn (1819-1892) was the successful proprietor of a grocery store and butcher shop in Lodi, and his sons, Joel M. and Judd B., worked with him until he retired in 1879. Joel M. Pruyn then took over the grocery store and in 1881 his father built this new building to house it. Joel M. Pruyn ran this store until his father died in 1892, after which it became a butcher shop owned and operated by L. P. Hinds. In 1923, the building was sold to Cassius L. Coward, the publisher of The Lodi Enterprise newspaper. Coward moved The Enterprise into his new building soon thereafter, and although the owners of the paper have changed over the years, it continues to be published out of this building.

The building is occupied by a private business. Please respect the rights and privacy of the occupants.