{"nrhp_refnum":"78002925","name":"First Mortage Company Building","other_names":["First National Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"109 N. Oregon St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"El Paso","county":"El Paso County","state":"TX","lat":31.75828047400006,"lon":-106.48859219199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-06-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A fifteen-story reinforced concrete office building at 109 N. Oregon Street in downtown El Paso, Texas, built 1920-21 in a commercial skyscraper style. It was designed by Barglebaugh & Whitson of Dallas and connected to an earlier 1905 bank building.","why_significant":"The building reflects El Paso's rapid economic growth in the early twentieth century and was the second skyscraper in the city and the tallest for many years. It was built for the First National Bank and the First Mortgage Company. It is the earliest building of its type in El Paso that has not been drastically altered.","narrative":"Rising fifteen stories at 109 N. Oregon Street, this downtown El Paso office building was constructed between May 1920 and March 1921 for the First National Bank and the First Mortgage Company. Barglebaugh & Whitson, a Dallas architectural firm, designed it, and El Paso contractor J. C. Buchanan built it. Its reinforced concrete frame is clad in buff brick with tan terra-cotta trim and organized as a base, shaft and capital. Its lower ornament was matched to the adjoining 1905 bank building, to which it was connected by corridors. At the time it was the second skyscraper in El Paso and the tallest for many years. It held 215 offices, bank vaults, and four high-speed elevators. A late-1950s remodeling added air conditioning and aluminum panels over the first two floors, but the basic design and ornament remain unmodified. It is recognized as the earliest building of its type in El Paso that has not been drastically altered, and it remains in office use.","period_of_significance":"1920-1921","architect_builder":"Barglebaugh & Whitson, Architects, Dallas, Texas; built by J. C. Buchanan, El Paso contractor","architectural_style":"Commercial style skyscraper","criteria":[],"status_note":"In use as an office building; the first two floors were covered with aluminum panels in the late 1950s and restoration of the principal facades and ground floors was planned.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.546218-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/63/9718/40971863/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/78002925.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002925/2d5438823b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002925/2d5438823b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:EPDude","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:One_Texas_Tower_El_Paso.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:EPDude</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:One_Texas_Tower_El_Paso.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971863","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Mortgage_Company_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q64214436"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/el-paso-county/first-mortage-company-building-78002925/"}