{"nrhp_refnum":"02001063","name":"Benjamin Apartments","other_names":["Home Hospital","Physicians and Surgeons Hospital"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1218 Webster St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.74650778800003,"lon":-95.37002746299999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-09-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick quadruplex apartment building at 1218 Webster Street in Houston's Midtown, built in 1923-1924 and designed by architect Alfred C. Finn for developer Benjamin Cohen.","why_significant":"It is nominated under Criterion C for architecture at the local level. It is described as one of the best remaining examples of an early 20th-century apartment building in Houston's Midtown, and it reflects the work of Alfred C. Finn. Many comparable buildings in the area have been altered, demolished or neglected.","narrative":"Built in 1923-1924 at 1218 Webster Street in Houston's Midtown, this two-story brick quadruplex was designed by architect Alfred C. Finn for Benjamin Cohen, a Houston businessman who founded The Smart Shop and the Columbia Dry Goods Company. The building has a modified C-plan, a flat roof with parapet, Acme brick walls, and cast stone ornament around the entry and a balconet above. Its restrained look is related to Italian Renaissance Revival design. Each of the four original units held two bedrooms, a sunroom and a sleeping porch. In the 1940s and 1960s it served as a small private hospital. After years of neglect, it was rehabilitated in 2001, with most windows replaced and the interior reorganized for office use. It was listed for its architecture, as one of the best surviving examples of early 20th-century apartment buildings in a neighborhood where many have been lost or altered.","period_of_significance":"1924","architect_builder":"Alfred C. Finn = architect, Louis C. Perry = builder","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Italian Renaissance","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Rehabilitated in 2001 using the investment tax credit program; now used as an office building.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.611365-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/9722/40972298/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/02001063.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001063/e86f2bd98c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001063/e86f2bd98c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"JPTrotter","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Apartments_1218_Webster_St_Houston,_TX.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JPTrotter</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Apartments_1218_Webster_St_Houston,_TX.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972298","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Apartments","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60751453"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/benjamin-apartments-02001063/"}