{"nrhp_refnum":"94001521","name":"Star Engraving Company Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3201 Allen Pkwy.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.760375262000025,"lon":-95.38896409099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-01-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1930 one- and two-story reinforced concrete printing plant and office building at 3201 Allen Parkway in Houston, Harris County, Texas, designed in the Spanish Mediterranean style and facing Buffalo Bayou Park.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be significant under Criteria A and C in the areas of community and regional planning, commerce, industry and architecture. It is one of the Spanish-style printing plants forming a 1920s 'crafts section' along Allen Parkway. It also reflects its architect's adaptation of commercial building types to suburban settings and the use of neo-Spanish styling to raise the status of light industrial buildings.","narrative":"Built in 1930 at 3201 Allen Parkway in Houston, this reinforced concrete building combined business offices with a printing and engraving plant. A two-story front block faces Buffalo Bayou Park, while a long one-story wing extends behind it. Pink stucco walls, blue steel windows, cast stone trim, tile-roofed corner towers and an ornate two-story entrance portal give it a Spanish Mediterranean character. It was one of three Spanish-style printing plants built at a bend in the bayou parkway in the late 1920s, forming what was then called a crafts section. The design is credited to Houston architect R.D. Steele, recognized for adapting commercial building types to suburban sites. Styling like this was meant to give light industry a civic and cultured appearance beside new roadside and residential landscapes. The building was remodeled in 1985 for a children's museum, offices and a repertory theater, but the front facade, the entrance sequence and the exposed concrete structure remain largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1930-1945","architect_builder":"Steele, R.D.; Townsend, J.B.","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival (Spanish Mediterranean)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Rehabilitated in 1985 as a cultural center and office building; the rear wing is used as a theater. A noncontributing warehouse stands at the rear of the site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.752892-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/92/9723/40972392/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/94001521.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001521/f80b16d256-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001521/f80b16d256-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Star_Engraving_Company_Building_Houston_(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:Star_Engraving_Company_Building_Houston_(HDR).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972392","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Engraving_Company_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7600701"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/star-engraving-company-building-94001521/"}