{"nrhp_refnum":"80004079","name":"Staacke Brothers Building","other_names":["Staacke Building","Exchange Furniture Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"309 E. Commerce St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Antonio","county":"Bexar County","state":"TX","lat":29.424229366000077,"lon":-98.48966816399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story commercial building with a basement at 309 E. Commerce Street in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, built in 1894 to house the carriage business of the Staacke family. It has a stone Renaissance Revival facade.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant as the work of noted architect James Riely Gordon, and as one of his finest surviving buildings. It is also presented as an excellent example of the decorative commercial architecture of the developing business society of the late nineteenth century. It housed the largest carriage firm in the city, Staacke Bros.","narrative":"Built in 1894 at 309 E. Commerce Street in San Antonio, this three-story commercial building was designed by architect James Riely Gordon for Staacke Bros., the city's largest carriage firm. Its stone facade combines red sandstone and pink granite, with two-story arches, Corinthian and Ionic columns, and a metal cornice and balustrade bearing the firm's name. The first floor served as a showroom for wagons and carriages, the second for storage, and the third for assembly and painting. The firm later became an automobile agency and is credited with bringing the first automobile to San Antonio in 1905. Later occupants included a paint company and a furniture store. The building once ran about 270 feet to Crockett Street, but the rear was demolished in 1979 under an agreement that saved the front 97.5 feet. The facade and front section remain largely intact. It is valued as one of Gordon's finest surviving works and as an example of 1890s commercial architecture.","period_of_significance":"1894","architect_builder":"Fred Dingel/James Riely Gordon","architectural_style":"Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Rear portion demolished; the remaining structure, 42 by 97.5 feet, is described as deteriorated, with the facade essentially intact. The Exchange Furniture Company vacated it in 1978, and a 1980 partnership planned facade restoration and adaptive reuse as a restaurant and offices.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.584064-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/63/9711/40971163/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/80004079.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004079/31e9faf270-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004079/31e9faf270-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"25or6to4","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Staake_Stevens_Buildings.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:Staake_Stevens_Buildings.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"79002914","name":"Main and Military Plazas Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/main-and-military-plazas-historic-district-79002914/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971163","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staacke_Brothers_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7595681"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bexar-county/staacke-brothers-building-80004079/"}