{"nrhp_refnum":"78002942","name":"Foley, W. L., Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"214--218 Travis St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.763213439000026,"lon":-95.36152871599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-10-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick and stone-trimmed commercial building at 214-218 Travis Street in downtown Houston, Texas, first built in 1860 by John Kennedy and given its present Victorian facade and addition in 1889.","why_significant":"The building has played a distinctive role in Houston's business district since 1860, serving as a Confederate armory and later as the home of W. L. Foley Dry Goods Co. Its 1889 facade was designed by Eugene T. Heiner, who also designed the nearby Cotton Exchange Building. It is thought to reflect 19th-century commercial architecture near Old Market Square.","narrative":"Located at 214-218 Travis Street in Houston's oldest business district, near Old Market Square, this three-story brick commercial building began in 1860, when merchant John Kennedy rebuilt after a fire destroyed much of the block. During the Civil War it served as a Confederate armory. After a fire in 1888 destroyed the northern two bays, the existing three-bay Victorian facade and addition were designed in 1889 by architect Eugene T. Heiner and built by contractors John Lucas and A. C. Moran. Kennedy's son-in-law, William L. Foley, known as the dean of Houston dry goods merchants, ran W. L. Foley Dry Goods Co. here until 1948. The facade features limestone medallions, arched third-story windows with keystones, and a corbelled parapet, while the ground floor has been altered with large sheet glass. A pizza parlor later occupied the building until a 1976 fire damaged the upper floors, leaving the building vacant.","period_of_significance":"1860; 1889","architect_builder":"Eugene T. Heiner, architect (1889); John Lucas and A. C. Moran, contractors","architectural_style":"Victorian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Fire damaged the second and third floors in May 1976; the building is described as unoccupied and vacant.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.089526-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/9723/40972354/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/78002942.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002942/ffabd16871-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002942/ffabd16871-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W._L._Foley_Bldg_(HDR).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W._L._Foley_Bldg_(HDR).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"83004471","name":"Main Street/Market Square Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/main-street-market-square-historic-district-83004471/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972354","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._L._Foley_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7945772"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/foley-w-l-building-78002942/"}