{"nrhp_refnum":"88002384","name":"La Madrilena","other_names":["Adrian Ortiz Grocery"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1002 E. Madison","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brownsville","county":"Cameron County","state":"TX","lat":25.905765170000052,"lon":-97.49636773199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-11-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"La Madrileña, also known as the Adrian Ortiz Grocery, is a one-story, L-plan brick commercial building at 1002 East Madison in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas, built in 1892 by local builders Santiago McCoy and Modesto Estevan Adams.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be one of the finest examples of 19th-century commercial architecture in Brownsville, representing the vernacular commercial style of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Its tall ornamental brick parapets with nine pinnacles are called exceptional. It is also associated with Spanish-born merchant Adrian Ortiz (1860-1957).","narrative":"La Madrileña is a one-story, L-plan brick commercial building on a corner lot at East Madison and Tenth streets in Brownsville, Texas. Built in 1892 for Spanish-born merchant Adrian Ortiz, it housed a store selling groceries, hardware, sundries and clothing, and served as a neighborhood gathering place until his death in 1957. Local builders Santiago McCoy and Modesto Estevan Adams constructed it of handmade brick in 13-inch-thick walls. Its most distinctive feature is the set of tall brick parapets with nine ornamental pinnacles, framed by pilasters and corbelled cornices. The building reflects the vernacular commercial architecture of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, shaped by Spanish, Mexican and Anglo-American influences. After roughly 30 years of vacancy, the roof had failed and the interior was lost, though the walls survived. A 1987 rehabilitation rebuilt the interior as law offices, replicated original doors and added a new stucco ell. It is considered one of the city's finest 19th-century commercial buildings.","period_of_significance":"1892 (1987)","architect_builder":"Santiago McCoy and Modesto Estevan Adams (builders)","architectural_style":"Late 19th-century vernacular commercial architecture of the Lower Rio Grande Valley (L-plan brick)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Unoccupied for about 30 years after 1957, then rehabilitated in 1987 and converted to law offices.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:21.554979-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/48/9714/40971448/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/88002384.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002384/42a461dd52-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002384/42a461dd52-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"25or6to4","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_Madrilena_Brownsville_Texas.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">25or6to4</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:La_Madrilena_Brownsville_Texas.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971448","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107319034"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/cameron-county/la-madrilena-88002384/"}