{"nrhp_refnum":"80004100","name":"Abdou Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"115 N. Mesa St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"El Paso","county":"El Paso County","state":"TX","lat":31.758760000000052,"lon":-106.48718999999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A seven-story reinforced concrete commercial building at 115 North Mesa Street in El Paso, Texas, built in 1909 as the Rio Grande Valley Bank Building and designed by Trost and Trost.","why_significant":"The building shows the structural and decorative capabilities of reinforced concrete, a material Henry Trost explored in the early 20th century. It also has a connection to the Rio Grande Valley Bank and to Sam Abdou, a prominent El Paso businessman and philanthropist who bought it in 1925.","narrative":"Rising seven stories at the corner of Texas Avenue and Mesa Street in El Paso, this reinforced concrete building was completed in 1909 as the Rio Grande Valley Bank Building. Trost and Trost designed it on an irregular quadrilateral site. It has a two-story arcaded base topped by a five-story tower with three-part windows showing Chicago influence, and a broad concave cornice crowns the top. About a year after completion, two more arched bays were added on the Texas Avenue side, matching the original proportions and materials. The bank had operated since 1905 from the Buckler Building before outgrowing it. Construction was extended from six stories to seven, and the lobby was finished with marble. In 1925 Sam Abdou, a prominent El Paso businessman, bought the building and leased it to the American Trust and Savings Bank. Retail shops later occupied the ground floor, and Zales has leased the lower floors since 1955. The building is valued for its stark expression of reinforced concrete.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Trost and Trost","architectural_style":"Early 20th century skyscraper with modernistic detailing","criteria":[],"status_note":"In commercial/retail use; the form notes the base arches were infilled with dark reflective glass, changes described as readily reversible.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.442607-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/9688/40968882/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/80004100.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004100/d9b7a14d0e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004100/d9b7a14d0e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Xnatedawgx","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abdou_Building,_El_Paso,_TX_2022-05-29.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Xnatedawgx</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:Abdou_Building,_El_Paso,_TX_2022-05-29.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"97000885","name":"El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/el-paso-county-water-improvement-district-no-1-97000885/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40968882","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdou_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q61748233"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/el-paso-county/abdou-building-80004100/"}