{"nrhp_refnum":"83004436","name":"Gulf Building","other_names":["Texas Commerce Bank Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"710-724 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.768130472000053,"lon":-95.36402223299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-08-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Economics","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 30-plus-story Art Deco skyscraper at 710-724 Main Street, at Main Street and Rusk Avenue in downtown Houston, Texas, designed in 1927 and built between 1927 and 1929 for developer Jesse H. Jones, with two later annexes.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the foremost Art Deco skyscraper office buildings in the Southwest. It was the tallest building west of the Mississippi until 1931 and the tallest in Houston until 1963. It was the flagship of Jesse H. Jones's real estate holdings and has housed banking and oil firms central to Houston's growth. Alfred C. Finn and Kenneth Franzheim were prolific architects of the period.","narrative":"Rising 430 feet at Main Street and Rusk Avenue in downtown Houston, this steel-frame skyscraper was built between 1927 and 1929 for developer Jesse H. Jones. A six-story limestone base supports a brick-faced tower that steps back in stages toward a crown of spire-like piers. Its ornament is Art Deco, though derived from Gothic detail, and is concentrated near street level. The two-story lobby has Italian travertine walls, nickel doors, molded plaster vaults and eight frescoes of Texas scenes. Alfred C. Finn was the principal architect, with Kenneth Franzheim as consulting architect. The building held the National Bank of Commerce, Gulf Oil companies and a Sakowitz Brothers store. It was the tallest building west of the Mississippi until 1931 and Houston's tallest until 1963. Annexes of 13 and 16 stories were added between 1946 and 1950, and remodelings in 1959-60 and 1969-70 kept its basic character. The building remains a prestigious office address.","period_of_significance":"1927-29; 1946-50","architect_builder":"Alfred C. Finn, Kenneth Franzheim et al.","architectural_style":"Art Deco detailing derived from Gothic, in a 1920s Manhattan-style set-back skyscraper","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and well maintained; the ground floor is largely occupied by banking facilities and the upper floors remain office space.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.120513-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/70/9723/40972370/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/83004436.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004436/7048ad2e0a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004436/7048ad2e0a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Reagan Rothenberger","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gulfchasehouston.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Reagan Rothenberger</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:Gulfchasehouston.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972370","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPMorgan_Chase_Building_(Houston)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3156945"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/gulf-building-83004436/"}