{"nrhp_refnum":"87002255","name":"Morton Brothers Grocery","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"401 W. Ninth","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.787212984000064,"lon":-95.40139082399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-01-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, brick veneer corner grocery building at 401 West 9th in the Houston Heights neighborhood of Houston, Harris County, Texas, dated 1929. The architect or builder is unknown.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is one of the few remaining one-story vernacular commercial structures in the Heights. It represents the corner grocery, a popular commercial and landmark feature of many neighborhoods, and few of these survive as well preserved. It was built by and associated with brothers Curtiss I. Morton and William J. Morton, who operated a store there until 1949.","narrative":"Built in 1929 at 401 West 9th in the Houston Heights, this one-story brick veneer building once served as a neighborhood corner grocery. It sits on a concrete slab under a flat roof with a rectangular plan. The south-facing front has a wooden kickplate below large glass storefronts that span nearly the whole facade, with slightly recessed double wooden doors at the center and a full-width transom of vertical lights. Above, a parapet with a squared arch and raised brick outline frames a signboard background. Curtiss I. Morton and his brother William J. Morton originally owned the building and ran a store there until 1949. It is recognized as one of the few surviving one-story vernacular commercial structures in the Heights, and as a rare, well-kept example of the corner grocery that once anchored many neighborhoods. The building is in excellent condition, unaltered, and now used as a residence on a corner lot between two residential streets.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Commercial Vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Physical condition is described as excellent with no alterations; original use was commercial and present use is residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.352713-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/9693/40969306/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/87002255.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87002255/14df3eb6fd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87002255/14df3eb6fd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morton_Brothers_Grocery_(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:Morton_Brothers_Grocery_(HDR).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969306","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Brothers_Grocery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20714846"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/morton-brothers-grocery-87002255/"}