{"nrhp_refnum":"08000962","name":"M and J Nelson Building","other_names":["J.C. Penney"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"300-308 S. 14th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"McAllen","county":"Hidalgo County","state":"TX","lat":26.201265903000035,"lon":-98.23506514399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-10-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story, 30,000 square foot reinforced concrete commercial building at 300-308 South 14th Street in downtown McAllen, Hidalgo County, Texas, designed in 1948 and built 1949-1950 for the J. C. Penney Company department store.","why_significant":"The building is described as the premier example of Streamlined Moderne architecture in McAllen (Criterion C). It was also an important part of the revitalization of McAllen's postwar business district (Criterion A, Commerce). It had a 13-passenger elevator, the city's first escalator and one of its first air-conditioning systems.","narrative":"Standing at the northeast corner of South 14th Street and Chicago Avenue in downtown McAllen, this three-story department store was designed in 1948 by the New York firm of Gillette and Bell for J. C. Penney. Local builders Morris Randall Nelson and his son Jack constructed it between 1949 and 1950. The reinforced concrete building is finished in horizontal bands of red and buff brick with cast stone trim, and its curved marquee, bulls-eye window and tall concrete fin mark it as Streamlined Moderne. Inside, it had a 13-passenger elevator, McAllen's first escalator, an early air-conditioning system, a pneumatic payment tube and a basement bomb shelter. The building is considered the best example of its style in the city. It also reflects McAllen's postwar commercial growth and its trade with customers from the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico. Penney's still operates there, and the building retains a high degree of integrity despite some signage changes.","period_of_significance":"1948","architect_builder":"Gillette and Bell, Architects, New York, New York; Morris R. Nelson and Jack Nelson, Builders, McAllen, Texas","architectural_style":"Modern: Streamlined Moderne","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still serves as the downtown J. C. Penney department store, its original tenant, which also uses the third floor for storage; some alterations such as new signage have been made.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:24.0007-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/9725/40972567/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/08000962.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000962/78458816fa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000962/78458816fa-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"25or6to4","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M_and_J_Nelson_Building_2012-09-13_14-03-43.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">25or6to4</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M_and_J_Nelson_Building_2012-09-13_14-03-43.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972567","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M_and_J_Nelson_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q85782910"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/hidalgo-county/m-and-j-nelson-building-08000962/"}