{"nrhp_refnum":"80004111","name":"Popular Department Store","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"102 N. Mesa St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"El Paso","county":"El Paso County","state":"TX","lat":31.758500473000026,"lon":-106.48674809099998,"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 white sandstone department store at 102 North Mesa in downtown El Paso, Texas, designed by Trost and Trost and built around 1917 in the Chicago School/Sullivanesque style.","why_significant":"The form calls it perhaps Trost's greatest achievement in the Chicago School commercial format. It also records the store's role since 1902 as a major El Paso retailer founded by Adolph Schwartz and partners, and its civic activity in the community.","narrative":"Rising seven stories with a mechanical penthouse, this white sandstone department store occupies more than half a city block at Mesa and San Antonio streets in downtown El Paso. Designed by Trost and Trost and completed around 1917, it replaced the old Masonic Building, which was bought in 1916 for $230,000 and razed. A three-bay, five-story addition in 1946 matched the original design and extended the building to eight stories; a later modern addition toward Texas Street is excluded from the nominated property. The facades follow the Chicago School pattern of base, shaft and cornice, with pilasters, cartouche and garland ornament, three-part windows and a dentilled cornice. The business began in 1902 as the Popular Dry Goods Company, founded by Adolph Schwartz, his nephew Maurice and partners. It became a major retailer, supported customers after the 1929 bank failure, and took part in civic activities. The store is described as perhaps Trost's greatest Chicago School commercial work.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Trost and Trost","architectural_style":"Chicago School/Sullivanesque","criteria":[],"status_note":"Present use is the same as the original use, commercial retail; the building retains much of its original appearance apart from modernized street facades.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.640699-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/74/9688/40968874/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/80004111.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004111/91c709f725-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004111/91c709f725-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Donitza Marie","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Popular_Department_Store.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Donitza Marie</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:The_Popular_Department_Store.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/40968874","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Department_Store","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65121288"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/el-paso-county/popular-department-store-80004111/"}