{"nrhp_refnum":"83004428","name":"Beaconsfield","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1700 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.75579618100005,"lon":-95.37272728399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-03-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An eight-story steel-frame and masonry apartment building at 1700 Main Street, on the southwest corner of Main Street and Pease Avenue in downtown Houston, Texas. It was completed in 1911 and designed by Alonzo Pigg, with floor plans credited to E.C. Lamb.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an intact early 20th-century highrise apartment building, perhaps the earliest and best preserved in Houston. Its exterior reflects pre-World War I classical trends, and its floor plans and materials were designed to attract tenants who might otherwise buy a single-family home. It survives in a changed neighborhood of low-rise commercial buildings and newer office towers and hotels.","narrative":"Beaconsfield is an eight-story apartment building at 1700 Main Street in downtown Houston, finished in September 1911. Its steel frame and masonry walls are dressed in painted brick, white stone and cement entablatures, and classical-derived cornices with triglyph blocks and dentils. A round-arched entrance holds a leaded-glass fanlight with the building's name. Each floor originally held two large apartments around a central stair and elevator core, with 24-foot-square living rooms, mahogany ceiling beams, oak floors, fireplaces and east-facing solariums that provided light and cross ventilation before air conditioning. Alonzo Pigg handled the design, while E.C. Lamb, an investor, is said to have laid out the plans. The building is considered significant as perhaps Houston's earliest and best-preserved highrise apartment block, and as a survivor in an area now filled with commercial buildings. It has been converted to condominiums while keeping most of its original fabric.","period_of_significance":"1911","architect_builder":"Alonzo Pigg (design); built by the Lamb-Field Company; E.C. Lamb credited with floor plans","architectural_style":"Abstractly rendered classical details (early 20th-century classical trends)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied as condominium residences following a recent renovation; condition marked excellent and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.576842-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/58/9722/40972258/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/83004428.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004428/b4848d93f5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004428/b4848d93f5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beaconsfield_(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:Beaconsfield_(HDR).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972258","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaconsfield_(Houston)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4876021"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/beaconsfield-83004428/"}