From the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, September 4, 1998
"STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
The 1914 Melrose Apartment Building in Galveston represents a type of commercial building that became popular in the early 20th century as Galveston's growing population created a greater demand for urban housing. Occupying a prominent comer lot next to the Grand Opera House, the 3-story brick building typifies the 2-part commercial block form and displays modest Prairie School influences. Representative of commercial building patterns in Galveston during this time period, the building falls under the context Historic Resources of the Galveston Central Business District (MRA 1984). One of the few surviving pre-depression era apartment buildings in downtown Galveston, the Melrose Apartment Building meets Criterion C in the area of Architecture at the local level of significance. The recent rehabilitation of the building, restoring its historic function of mixed retail and residential uses, makes the Melrose Apartment Building once again a significant member of Galveston's Central Business District.
DESCRIPTION
The 1914 Melrose Apartment Building is a modest 2-part commercial block building facing south on the comers of 20th and Post Office (Avenue E) Streets in Galveston's Central Business District. The 3-story rectangular building with flat roof consists of load bearing masonry construction, displaying detailed brickwork along the cornice and vertical pilasters between sets of windows. A distinct horizontal emphasis and modest
geometric ornamentation reveal typical characteristics of the Prairie style. The building originally contained 23 apartments on the second and third floors and several retail shops on the ground level. The recent rehabilitation, with limited alterations to the original building, restored the Melrose Apartment Building to its historic function of mixed commercial and residential uses.
The Melrose Apartment Building faces south on a comer lot at the intersection of 20th and Post Office Streets in the Central Business District of Galveston. The building sits approximately one block south of the Strand Historic District (National Register 1970; National Historic Landmark 1976) and two blocks west of the East End Historic District (National Register 1975; National Historic Landmark 1976). Surrounded by several other multi-story, late 19th and early 20th century commercial buildings, the Melrose Apartment
Building falls within Galveston Central Business District Multiple Resource Area (MRA), listed in the National Register (NR) in 1984.
A 2-story brick building, about the same height of the Melrose and set back from the street, abuts the Melrose on the west. The 1989 building services the adjacent 1894 Grand Opera House (NR 1974), a 4-story building with somewhat similar brick construction and fenestration patterns. An alley runs behind the Melrose on the north, bisecting the block midway between Post Office and Market Streets. Concrete parking
lots across the alley and also across 20th Street service Galveston's only skyscraper, the American National Insurance Company Building. To the east, Galveston's main Transit Terminal occupies the middle of 20th Street while diagonally across the intersection is the 1857 Old Galveston Custom House (NR 1970). Across Post Office Street to the south is the 1899 I.O.O.F. Building and the 1907 Robinson Building, both listed in the
NR as part of the Galveston Central Business District MRA.
The Melrose Apartment Building typifies the 2-part commercial block form, easily seen in the horizontal division between the upper two floors of private living space and the ground floor retail space characterized by plate glass windows with transoms. The street facing (south and east) elevations display similar characteristics, including vertical pilasters between windows and detailed brickwork along the cornice and pedimented parapet. Geometric designs in the pediments and horizontal bands above the second and third story windows provide a horizontal emphasis that reveal modest Prairie style influences.
The front (south) elevation facing Post Office Street retains its original double hung upper story windows and original transoms at the ground level. The ground floor display windows and doors have been replaced, however the original configuration of the openings remains. The symmetrical, 3-bay arrangement consists of a single door entrance flanked by wider plate glass display windows. A canopy, running the width of the building, divides these windows from the original wood transoms above. Two vertical
pilasters divide the facade into three parts consisting of the central entry door and 1/1 windows above and flanking sets of three 1/1 windows, the same width as the ground floor display windows. Brick corbels border the top horizontal edge of the third story windows. This together with the geometric arrangement of green ceramic tile on the centrally placed pediment, the vertical pilasters just above the transoms, and the comers of the horizontal panels above the upper floor windows give the building its most distinctive omamentation.
The side (east) elevation facing 20th Street displays the same configuration as the front facade except that it is longer and without the narrower central entry section. Vertical pilasters again divide each set of windows, this time in to seven equal sections. The longer parapet features two pediments above the second and sixth set of windows that display the same omamentation seen on the front elevation.
The rear (north) elevation facing the alley retains its original elliptical arched windows, however the arched doorway on the first floor has been covered for tenant security. The unadorned facade features five window openings on each of the upper floors as well as the original fire escape.
The 2-story building to the west of the Melrose partially obscures the side (west) elevation. This side, also without any decorative detailing like the rear, retains its original elliptical arched windows. The upper two floors are inset three feet approximately 23 feet in from the south and north ends, forming a kind of modified U-shape. This feature allows for sunlight and air to enter the upper floor windows regardless of the presence of an
adjacent building.
The first floor houses three leased commercial spaces and the central stairway foyer to the upper story apartments. Originally, the first floor retail spaces consisted of five unequal bays. Four of the original doors with wood transoms remain in use. The small entry foyer retains the original white hexagonal ceramic tile floor. The letters MELROSE are inlaid with blue hexagonal tile. The ceiling consists of the original beaded tongue in groove wood ceiling trimmed modestly with quarter round. Most of the doors,
casings, and trim are original to the building, and many of the original elements, such as the bathroom fixtures, were refurbished to remain in use.
The two upper floors each contain a central north-south corridor with two apartments facing east towards 20th Street, one apartment facing west, and a U-shaped apartment to the extreme south.
Like many commercial buildings in the Central Business District, the ground floor storefronts and interiors received various alterations over time. A tile mosaic now covers the wainscoting of the northern two bays, while the middle features marble wainscoting under a large French window. The southem four bays display wood wainscoting similar to the original. By 1992, the first floor transoms and windows had been either boarded over or removed and the entire ground floor painted. Recently, the Melrose Apartment Building
underwent a rehabilitation to restore the building to its historic function of mixed retail and residential use.Several of the transom and storefront windows that had been covered remain intact, although a few glass panes on the storefronts had to be replaced and two transom frames were rebuilt from scratch to resemble the original. Although numerous attempts to locate clear historic photos by the property owner have been so far unsuccessful, the storefront configuration of the Melrose Apartment Building is in keeping with other historic buildings in the MRA.
The majority of work carried out during the rehabilitation included adding new electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling mechanisms, a new roof, cabinets, and light fixtures, as well as refinishing floors and repainting walls and trim inside and out. The original 23 small apartments became 8 loft apartments with the removal of several interior walls. All remaining walls on the upper two floors are original.
The only major exterior alteration to occur during the rehabilitation consists of the painting of the architectural detailing, done in a pattern similar to the nearby Stewart Title Building, part of the Strand Historic District. The building appears to have been painted historically, and removal of previous coats of paint would have been cost prohibitive. In 1993, small exterior lights were added as part of the Galveston Historical Foundation's campaign to lighten up the downtown area. Structurally, the Melrose Apartment Building retains a large percentage of its original form and materials, therefore retaining its historic and architectural integrity to a substantial degree."