The Praetorian Building - Waco Downtown Historic District - Waco, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 31° 33.302 W 097° 07.915
14R E 677311 N 3492628
The Praetorian building towered over the city in 1915 as one of the first skyscrapers in Central Texas. It is a fine example of the Chicago style of architecture.
Waymark Code: WMXQNA
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/14/2018
Views: 0
From Waco History website:The Modern Order of Praetorians, a nonprofit fraternal insurance organization founded by Charles Gardner in Dallas in 1898, rapidly expanded in the early twentieth century to cities throughout Texas.
The Praetorians employed C. W. Bulger and Son to design a high-rise building to house a Waco chapter. The Dallas-based firm, strongly influenced by the Chicago architectural style, had previously designed the Praetorian’s home office in Dallas in 1909 and based the Waco building off a similar design. Begun in 1913 and completed in 1915, the seven-story building featured a gray granite base, terra-cotta tile detailing, large show windows, and the Praetorian shield logo. The interior featured marble wainscoting, tile floors, and high ceilings with deep cornices and pilaster at its construction, although alterations to the building in the 1950s removed some of these details.
Several floors today contain loft-style apartments. Other portions of the building house Anthem Studios, and the current owner continues to consider options for opening a restaurant and retail stores in the future.