Everett Building

Built in 1910 at 214-216 Fredonia Street in downtown Longview, this two-story brick building with a raised basement was constructed as a home for the Citizens National Bank. Local builder and businessman L.J. Everett worked with architect Samuel Joseph Blocker, a regionally prominent architect and educator. The corner entrance has a rounded bay, pink granite Corinthian columns and a wooden door with beveled glass, while a pressed metal cornice crowns the walls. Inside, pressed tin ceilings, tile floors, and an original Mosler vault survive. It is the only remaining example of twentieth century Classical Revival commercial architecture in the city, and its restrained ornament marked a break from heavily decorated Victorian buildings. Several banks, attorneys, doctors, merchants, the Red Cross and a clothier occupied it over the decades, connecting it to both the cotton trade and the oil boom that followed the 1931 discovery of oil in Gregg County. After 1960 it stood largely empty until restoration planning began.