Henry Brashear Building
910 Prairie Avenue
1882
Eugene T. Heiner, architect
CLASSIFICATION:
building; privately owned; fair condition; occupied; restricted access; commercial
OWNER:
Frank Meyer Estate
DESCRIPTION:
Built in the late nineteenth century, the Brashear building displays vaguely Renaissance motifs within a Victorian context. Located mid-block near Main Street in the once active commercial center of town, this small three-story building is constructed of brick, plastered heavily, with both the cornice and ground floor storefront (now only partially extant) of iron.
The narrow structure is three bays wide. An iron canopy, supported by thin columns and topped with a fringe of cast iron decoration, was removed, probably in the 1930s or 1940s. This element shaded the first floor storefront and obscured its facade in early photographs.
The wall surface of the facade displays shallow layering of reticulated grids with quoins, pilasters, sills and belt courses. The heads of the three third floor windows are crowned by segmental arches spanning the pilasters, all composed of heavily modeled voussoirs. Every other block of the rusticated pilasters between the arched second floor windows is vermiculated. The pilasters at the third floor, both those between the windows and those supporting the hood moldings, have deep vertical grooves incised in them. The fine iron entablature and cornice is fractured midway across the building to allow the central register, surmounted by a broken pediment and urn, to attain prominence.
The Brashear building is fenestrated with 2/2 rectangular sash windows. It is not decorated on its other three party-wall elevations. Today a fire escape intrudes across the Prairie Avenue facade. Two large storefront windows flank an unremarkable entrance on the first floor. The entire building is estimated to contain about 7,500 square feet.
AREA OF SIGNIFICANCE:
architecture
SIGNIFICANCE:
The Henry Brashear building was constructed in 1882 by Henry Brashear, a judge of the District Criminal Court and later vice-president of the Texas National Bank. Its facade is among the most engaging of Houston’s surviving Victorian buildings. Overshadowed by the Rice Hotel (1912-1913) behind it and other large buildings nearby, it remains an important element of the streetscape despite its small size. It was designed by Eugene T. Heiner, architect of the Houston Cotton Exchange of 1884 and other prominent buildings in Houston and Galveston.
Located in the middle of the block on Prairie between Main and Travis Streets, the Brashear building occupied a desirable commercial location when built. Judge Brashear built the three-story building as investment property for $8,500. The two floors above the commercial space on the street level were let for many years as furnished rooms. The ground floor was occupied by Gorman’s Jewelers (“railroad watches our specialty”) for 45 years between 1905 and 1950. After Gorman’s moved out, a children’s clothing store occupied the same space for about five years, to be followed by the current tenant, Swift One Hour Dry Cleaning. The two upper floors have been used for some time only for storage. There are no plans for renovation of this building.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Periodicals
Houston City Directory. Various years, 1882-1978.
1884. Advertisement, p. 45: “Eugene T. Heiner.”
Books
The Art Work of Houston, 1894. Chicago: W. H. Parish Publishing Company, 1894.
Houston: An Architectural Guide. Peter C. Papademetriou, editor. Houston: Houston Chapter, American Institute of Architects, 1972, p. 26.
Souvenir Anniversary Edition of the Houston Chronicle. Houston: 1905.
Jim Parsons
5/26/11
Share with friends!
