ALICO Building - Waco Downtown Historic District - Waco, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 31° 33.412 W 097° 07.913
14R E 677310 N 3492832
Constructed by the Amicable Life Insurance Company in 1911, the ALICO building remains an impressive marker on Waco's skyline. It was designed by Fort Worth architects Sanguinet & Staats.
Waymark Code: WMXQK6
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/14/2018
Views: 1
NRHP Nomination Form
"At an impressive twenty-two stories, this Beaux-Arts inspired skyscraper dominates the Waco's cityscape. The roof stands at 246 feet and the tip of the flagpoler eaches to 303 feet above the Austin Avenue sidewalk. At the time of its completion, the ALICO building was advertised as the tallest building west of the Mississippi and south of the Mason Dixon line; it held this distinction until 1929.
The building rests on a massive set of foundation piers, drilled to at least forty-five feet deep. These support over forty million pounds of steel and iron. The structure was designed to be "fireproof," constricted from skeletal steel, tile and concrete with little to no exposed wood framing. The steel was imported from New York by ship via Galveston, and by train from Galveston to Waco.
The building's design reflects a late-nineteenth conception of skyscraper architecture, and perhaps recalls Louis Sullivan's tripartite tall building scheme. The ALICO has a discernable horizontal layering, with the suggestion of a base, shaft, and capital. The building is rectangular in plan, and regular in its massing. The primary facade, facing Austin Avenue, is symmetrical in design. The facade represents the shorter side of the rectangular plan, and displays three vertical bays (delineated by the fenestration pattern, and a framing system visible in the top four floors).T he long elevations (facing Fifth and Fourth Streets) are divided into four vertical bays.
The ground level through the fifth floor, resurfaced in 1966, are clad in a rough-faced stucco applied in vertical sections and separated by metal bands. The ground floor entry and storefront are recessed beneath a projecting canopy, which skirts the entire perimeter of the building and continues to the parking garage located in the rear of the facility. The skirt is approximately two stories in height. It is consistently detailed throughout, and features alternating diamond-shaped screen panels and solid stucco or concrete panels. Beneath the canopy, locally nicknamed the "hula hoop," the ground floor is accessed through double doors flanked by sidelights with a transom above, all trimmed in a gold-toned metal."