{"nrhp_refnum":"79002967","name":"Paul Building","other_names":["Republic Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1018 Preston Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.760880013000076,"lon":-95.36085364099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-04-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An eight-story brown brick commercial office building at 1018 Preston Avenue, at the corner of Preston and Fannin Streets in Houston, Texas, built in 1907 for realtor Allen Paul.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a good example of early twentieth century Chicago School commercial architecture in Houston and one of the city's oldest skyscrapers. It housed many prominent attorneys near the county courthouse and hosted the U.S. District Court from 1910. It also survives as a link to Houston's turn-of-the-century development while similar nearby buildings were razed.","narrative":"Rising eight stories at the corner of Preston and Fannin Streets in Houston, this brown brick office building was completed in 1907 for local realtor Allen Paul. The Dallas-Fort Worth firm of Sanguinet and Staats designed it, and Buchanan and Gilder Construction Co. built it. Its Chicago School character shows in a Sullivanesque three-part scheme, recessed windows and spandrels, and terra-cotta eagles and cartouches, including a raised P for Paul. Across from the county courthouse, it became a base for prominent attorneys, and the U.S. District Court met on its second floor from 1910. Over the years it was known as the Hoffman, Turnbow and Republic Building. Alterations in the 1950s covered the ground floor and removed the cornice. By the late 1970s it had been largely empty since 1970, and its owners planned rehabilitation as offices. It is valued as one of Houston's oldest skyscrapers and a survivor among razed neighbors.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific date 1907)","architect_builder":"Sanguinet & Staats (architects); Buchanan & Gilder Construction Co. (builders)","architectural_style":"Chicago School commercial architecture with Sullivanesque tripartite plan","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as neglected and virtually unoccupied since 1970; new owners plan to rehabilitate it for office use. First floor altered in the 1950s.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.795551-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/42/9724/40972442/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/79002967.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002967/999dc70a1f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002967/999dc70a1f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Building_Downtown_Houston_(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:Paul_Building_Downtown_Houston_(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/40972442","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20679815"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/paul-building-79002967/"}