{"nrhp_refnum":"78002993","name":"Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Building","other_names":["Frank Brown Building","John L. Martin Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"410 Congress Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Austin","county":"Travis County","state":"TX","lat":30.26658756200004,"lon":-97.74366676299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-02-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story commercial building at 410 Congress Avenue in Austin, Travis County, Texas, built in 1886 by Frank Brown and remodeled in 1899 with a Romanesque Revival facade.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its Romanesque Revival facade, one of the few essentially unaltered nineteenth-century facades left on Congress Avenue. It is also tied to early citizens and industry, including Frank Brown and the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company, which installed Austin's first common battery exchange here.","narrative":"Located at 410 Congress Avenue in Austin, this two-story commercial building began as a brick structure built in 1886 by Frank Brown, a longtime Travis County clerk and local historian who wrote The Annals of Travis County and the City of Austin. In 1898 the Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company bought it and remodeled it in 1899, installing the first common battery exchange in Austin. Austin architect A. O. Watson designed the Romanesque Revival facade of grey granite and buff limestone, which features two massive arches at street level, a five-arch blind arcade above, carved swags, and bells in high relief symbolizing the telephone company. The nomination describes it as one of the few essentially unaltered nineteenth-century facades remaining on Congress Avenue, historically Austin's principal street. At the time of listing the building was unoccupied, and the owners planned to restore the facade to its c. 1900 appearance for office use.","period_of_significance":"1886 built; 1899 remodeled (specific dates given; 1800-1899 period)","architect_builder":"1899 renovation by A. O. Watson (listed as O. Watson on the form); original 1886 building built by Frank Brown","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Altered; unoccupied at the time of nomination, with second-story windows boarded up. The owners planned an adaptive-use restoration for law offices, returning the facade to its c. 1900 appearance.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.673613-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/9736/40973675/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/78002993.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002993/5fc11d99d4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002993/5fc11d99d4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Larry D. Moore","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southwestern_telegraph_and_telephone_building_2013.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Larry D. Moore</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southwestern_telegraph_and_telephone_building_2013.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"75002132","name":"Sixth Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/sixth-street-historic-district-75002132/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40973675","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110000447"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/travis-county/southwestern-telegraph-and-telephone-building-78002993/"}