Seguin Commercial Historic District

Seguin's commercial core in Guadalupe County, Texas, is a district of roughly 120 buildings, most built between 1885 and 1925. The town was platted in 1838 on a regular grid with 70-foot streets and two public squares, and that pattern survives almost unchanged. Buildings are mostly one- or two-story brick structures with flat roofs and brick or metal cornices, many Italianate in proportion and ornament. The area also contains reminders of earlier eras: a few buildings made partly of concrete from the 1850s, when Seguin earned the nickname 'Concrete City', and the 1860s Vivroux store, the only Civil War-era commercial building left. Larger landmarks include the four-story Aumont Hotel and the 1935 Art Moderne courthouse built as a WPA project. Of the buildings counted, 71 contribute to the district's historic character and 47 do not. Some storefronts have modern windows or false facades, yet the district keeps its turn-of-the-century appearance more fully than comparable nearby cities.