{"nrhp_refnum":"99000283","name":"Brady Building-Empire Theater","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"204 E. Houston St.--226 N. St. Mary's St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Antonio","county":"Bexar County","state":"TX","lat":29.426102755000045,"lon":-98.49101963799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-03-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An 8-story steel-frame, tan brick and terra cotta building at the southeast corner of Houston and St. Mary's Streets in San Antonio, Texas, built in 1914 as offices with the Empire Theater. Thomas Brady had it built on the site of the older Turner Halle.","why_significant":"The visible text shows the building as a Houston Street landmark tied to the street's rise as San Antonio's retail and entertainment center in the 1910s. It stands on a site with a long record of German social life and theater use, and it keeps a largely intact Classical Revival exterior and an ornate theater interior. The form says it retains enough integrity to remain recognizable to its period of significance. The significance section is truncated, so the full argument and criteria are not visible.","narrative":"Rising eight stories at the corner of Houston and St. Mary's Streets in San Antonio, the Brady Building was completed in 1914 to hold offices and the Empire Theater. Its steel frame is clad in tan brick with matching terra cotta trim, and a copper-faced canopy hung from chains runs along both street fronts. Eagle medallions, lion-head brackets and griffin panels decorate the facade. Inside, the theater has an orchestra level, two balconies and extensive Renaissance Revival plaster ornament. Thomas Brady, a real estate man, built it after buying the old Turner Halle on the site in 1890. That hall had been a center of German social life, and later housed the Empire Opera House. The new building reflected the shift of the city's retail and entertainment life to Houston Street as San Antonio grew rapidly. Offices became apartments in 1992-93, and the theater was restored in 1997-98, with original finishes and colors replicated from paint analysis.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Classical Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"The office tower was converted to apartments in 1992-93. The theater was renovated in 1997-98 for use as a performing arts space and is still a theater.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:24.166491-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/61/9712/40971261/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/99000283.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000283/5773a6fd82-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/99000283/5773a6fd82-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Wynne-Candy","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charline_McCombs_Empire_Theatre.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Wynne-Candy</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:Charline_McCombs_Empire_Theatre.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971261","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charline_McCombs_Empire_Theatre","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110001584"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bexar-county/brady-building-empire-theater-99000283/"}