{"nrhp_refnum":"03001163","name":"Levy, E.S., Building","other_names":["National Hotel Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2221-2225 Market St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Galveston","county":"Galveston County","state":"TX","lat":29.305102658000067,"lon":-94.79343743299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-11-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-story commercial building at 2221-2225 Market Street in the Galveston Central Business District, Texas, built in 1896 with a fifth floor added in 1899. It was designed by architect Charles W. Bulger for E.S. Levy & Co.","why_significant":"It was Galveston's first professional office building and reflects the city's late nineteenth-century commercial and retail growth (Criterion A, local level). It is also an excellent example of turn-of-the-century commercial architecture and the first large commercial commission of architect Charles W. Bulger (Criterion C, local level). It incorporates the cast iron ground-floor façade of the 1871 Tremont Opera House and housed the U.S. Weather Bureau office during the 1900 storm.","narrative":"Rising five stories at the corner of Market and 23rd (Tremont) Streets in downtown Galveston, this load-bearing masonry building was constructed in 1896 for the department store E.S. Levy & Co. and gained its fifth floor in 1899. Architect Charles W. Bulger, in his first large commercial commission, reused the cast iron ground-floor façade of the 1871 Tremont Opera House that previously occupied the site. Terra cotta detailing, sheet metal cornices and buff brick upper floors give the building a strong vertical character. It is regarded as Galveston's first professional office building, with tenants such as doctors, lawyers and the U.S. Weather Bureau office, whose instruments were lost from the roof in the 1900 hurricane. Alterations in the 1950s concealed the cast iron and interior columns, but a rehabilitation completed in 2001 restored them. Retail space now occupies the ground floor, and artist live/work lofts fill the upper floors. The property reflects Galveston's commercial growth and turn-of-the-century architecture.","period_of_significance":"1896-1953","architect_builder":"Charles W. Bulger","architectural_style":"Other: 3-Part vertical block; Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements: Commercial Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Rehabilitated and reopened in 2001 after 1950s alterations were reversed; ground floor has commercial tenants (restaurant) and upper floors are artist live/work lofts.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.961677-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/9691/40969175/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/03001163.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001163/7a6d3bc97a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001163/7a6d3bc97a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jim Evans","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:E.S._Levy_Building_--_Galveston,_Texas.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim Evans</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:E.S._Levy_Building_--_Galveston,_Texas.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"70000748","name":"Strand Historic District, The","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/strand-historic-district-the-70000748/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969175","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.S._Levy_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16890841"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/galveston-county/levy-e-s-building-03001163/"}