Photo Credit: Library of Congress Strand Historic District, Kaufman & Runge Building, photograph, Date 1967, crediting Allen Stross, Photographer .
Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. 20243
Strand Historic District, Kaufman & Runge Building, 222 Twenty-second Street, Galveston, Galveston County, TX
About this Item:
Title: Strand Historic District, Kaufman & Runge Building, 222 Twenty-second Street, Galveston, Galveston County, TX
Contributor Names: Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
Created / Published: Documentation compiled after 1933
Notes
Significance: Considered one of Galveston's architectural monuments, this neo-Renaissance building was erected for Juluis Kauffman and Julius Runge. Kauffman founded J. Kauffman and Company, an import goods house, in 1840 which became Kauffman and Runge in 1874 with the partnership of Julius Runge. The company was one of the first to import foreign commodities into Galveston and Texas and later initiated the first Texas direct coffee trade with Rio de Janeiro. Coffee importation subsequently became a prime factor in the economic growth of the firm. By the 1880s Kauffman and Runge was one of Galveston's leading firms and in addition to its importing department, responsible for procuring Brazilian and Mexican coffee and European wines, liquors and mineral waters, it had developed a wholesale grocery and distilling department, as well as cotton factor and cotton shipment and export departments. The company also introduced a number of German immigrants into Texas as they were agents for the North German Lloyds.
Historical and Descriptive Data
State: Texas
County: Galveston
Town or vicinity: Galveston
Historic name of structure: Kauffman and Runge Building
HABS No.: TX-3296 J
Complete address:222 22nd Street (Kempner Ave.)
Date of Construction: 1882
Architects: Eugene T. Heiner, Architect.
Significance (Architectural and Historical, Include Original Use):
Considered one of Galveston's architectural monuments, this neo-Renaissance building was erected for Julius Kauffman and Julius Runge. Kauffman founded J. Kauffman and Company, an import goods house, in 1840 which became Kauffman and Runge in 1874 with the partnership of Julius Runge. The company was one of the first to import foreign commodities into Galveston and Texas and later initiated the first Texas direct coffee trade with Rio de Janeiro. Coffee importation subsequently became a prime factor in the economic growth of the firm. By the 1880s Kauffman and Runge was one of Galveston’s leading firms and in addition to its importing department, responsible for procuring Brazilian and Mexican coffee and European wines, liquors and mineral waters, it had developed a wholesale grocery and distilling department, as well as cotton factor and cotton shipment and export departments. The company also introduced a number of German immigrants into Texas as they were agents for the North German Lloyds.
Style (if appropriate): Neo-Renaissance
Material of Construction (Include structural systems):Red Philadelphia pressed brick load-bearing walls and white cut stone,
Shape and Dimensions of Structure (Sketched floor plans on separate page are acceptable): Unknown
Exterior Features of Note: The red brick and white cut stone work resulted in a "polychrome" facade. The three story structure contains arcuated windows with segmental arches and white keystones. The corner two bays are delineated by raised pilasters. The horizontality of the building is emphasized through the use of white stone brick courses between floors.
Interior Features of Note: Unknown
Major Alterations and Additions with Dates: The original building contained a large cornice with brackets, modillions and classical pediments and a one story porch surrounding the building. These elements were destroyed in the 1900 storm.
Present Condition and Use: Good
Sources of Information (Include Listing on National Register, State Registers, Etc.) HABSI, National Architectural and Engineering Record, Washington, D.C. File from the Galveston Historical Foundation, Galveston, Texas.
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From the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form
The Strand Historic District (Period of Significance Amendment), Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Section 7 - Page 29 & 30
76. Kauffman and Runge Building
1882 (Eugene T. Heiner), 1905 (Charles W. Bulger)
Alias Stewart Title Building
220-222 22nd Street Lots 13 and 14 Block 621
Contributing building
High Victorian/Italian Renaissance Revival
The Kauffman and Runge Building stands at the northeast corner of Mechanic and 22nd Street, serving as a central landmark in a manner analogous to the role played by the W.L. Moody Building on the Strand. The four-story building has ten bays on its southern elevation addressing Mechanic and 14 bays on its western elevation facing 22nd. Both elevations display painted-brick bodies with first-story arched entryways and arched four-over-four wooden sash windows in each bay of the upper stories. The gable roof is hidden by a parapet. To design the building, merchants Julius Kauffman and Julius Runge hired architect Eugene T. Heiner, who employed a modernized Victorian version of the Italian Renaissance style for which he is commonly known. The building lost its original cornice in the 1900 Hurricane. In 1905, Maco Stewart purchased the building to serve as headquarters for the Stewart Title Company. He hired architect C.W. Bulger to create a renovation plan. At some point in the twentieth century, the exterior bricks were painted red. In 1977, Stewart Title hired architect David V. Barker to repair the building and restore the pre-1900 cornice.
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The Texas Historical Marker near the main door tells more about the history of this building:
Stewart Title Guaranty Company
Julius Kauffman (1856-1935) and Julius Runge (1851-1906), second generation owners of a commission firm established in 1842, had architect Eugene T. Heiner design this renaissance revival building in the north Italian mode. Contractor Robert Palisser completed the structure in 1882. Then known as the world's foremost cotton exporters and the initiators of coffee imports from Brazil, Kauffman-Runge also brought significant numbers of settlers to Texas. They housed commodities on the building's ground floor, and had offices above. Many highly-respected Galveston firms had business quarters here.
In 1905 the property was bought by Maco Stewart (1871-1938), who redesigned the interior to create a gallery effect with an arched skylight on the top floor. A foresighted, dynamic lawyer, Maco Stewart in 1908 founded Stewart Title Guaranty Company, now (1978) the largest title firm in Texas. Throughout expansion across the United States, it continuously had offices in this structure of its origin.
Stewart Title Company has restored the building, replacing the ornate cornice which had been missing since the famous 1900 Galveston storm.
(1978)