The Roma Historic District was created in 1972, and is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.
The district encompasses most of downtown, from roughly US 83 on the east to the Rio Grande on the west, and from West Garfield Ave on the North to West Bravo Street (the road leading to the Roma- Cd. Miguel Aleman International Bridge) on the south.
Most of the buildings in the district were built by late 19th-century local architect Heinrich Portscheller, who has a street named for him downtown and a historic marker in his honor, both located in this historic district.
The Manuel Guerra Store is listed as a contributing building to this National Register Historic District.
From the US National Register Nomination Form on the Texas Historical Commission website: (
visit link)
"Outstanding historic properties included within the boundaries of the district include the following:
1. Manuel Guerra House and Store. 1878-1884. (HABS TEX 3146). This is among the finest Portscheller-built structures in Roma. The building has commercial retail space on the first floor and residential space above. To the rear of the building, adjacent to Hidalgo Street, is a long one story building which was probably a warehouse for the store.
The principal entrance to the structure is at the corner of the Plaza and Hidalgo Street, and the corner of the structure is cut to accommodate the double-door entrance. This doorway is flanked by brick pilasters set on a low plinth base. The pilasters support molded brick capitals, a brick architrave and a molded brick cornice. In addition to the corner entrance, there are five other double- door entrances on the first floor of the structure. These openings have brick flat arches with a small molded brick cornice above.
On the upper level, a cast-iron balcony with repetative panels of intricate lace-like filigree surrounding the plaza facade and the Hidalgo Street facade. The alternating windows and doors are framed by a composition of flanking pilasters and molded brick entablatures similar to the main entrance on the ground floor.
The building is crowned by a well-proportioned cornice with a cyma recta, fillet and dentil course of molded brick. The finely proportioned architectural embellishments and superior craftsmanship of the structure reveal Portscheller's uniquely personal style which utilizes classical orders similar to classic elements used in the early Renaissance period."
More information on this historic structure from the City of Roma TX National Historic Landmark Nomination Form: (
visit link)
24)Manuel Guerra Residence and Store [Contributing]
Enrique Portscheller, Builder
702 Hidalgo Street
Block 2, Lots 1 and 2
1884
The Manuel Guerra residence and store is the largest residence
and the most intensively developed private property in Roma.
Guerra, born in Mier in 1856 and apprenticed to an American merchant in Corpus Christi in 1870, settled in Roma in 1877.
During the 1880s he established himself as a leading merchant and
a powerful figure in the Democratic Party of Starr County, taking
over management of his family's Escandón-granted ranchlands. In
1884, a contract between Enrique Portscheller, the architect, and
Manuel Guerra, for the improvement of the two lots, called for a
two-story house with basement and privy, to occupy the entire
plaza frontage. The ground floor consisted of two rooms, one a
large commercial space and the second an anteroom. The upstairs
housed the family living quarters.
As mapped by Sanborns urveyors in 1894, the complex included a small one-story brick office at the northeast, as well as a one-story brick warehouse ell to the northwest (fronting Hidalgo Street). A free-standing washroom (possibly an enlargement of the original privy) stood at the northeastern edge of the structure's interior courtyard.
All units of the compound were of brick construction, with flat
tile-brick roofs. The double lot site was fully walled by an
eight-foot structure. Public view of the complex focused on the
upper story with its detailed wrought-iron balcony. An angled
corner entrance at Hidalgo and Convent (the plaza) further
enhanced design detailing. A banqueta wrapped around the plaza
and Hidalgo frontages.
The structure's facades were designed in a two-part composition
with restrained ornamentation derived from Renaissance sources,
primarily in window and door enframements on both floors, and
through the molded-brick cornice. Ground floor windows and doors
are spaced irregularly, to accommodate the warehouse and
commercial functions. The corner entrance is enframed by Doric
pilasters, with other openings enframed by pilasters and capped
by cornices. The smaller openings of the second story are
regularly spaced, dignified and reminiscent of the piano nobile
of an Italian palazzo. A wrought-iron balcony wraps the twostory
main dwelling and store, with six iron finials accenting
the parapet, offering a more playful element to the design.
Three signs also add character to the primary facades, reading
"M. Guerra" and "La Mexicana."
The 1894 and 1925 Sanborn maps detailed the Guerra compound, with
only one change noted to the property in the 30-year period, the
addition of a gas pump at about mid-point along the plaza face of
the dwelling. The pump was the only such unit in Roma at the
time. Today all the major elements of the property are intact,
but the buildings are deteriorating rapidly. The main ground
level store space retains many furnishings and fixtures of the
past, including commercial shelving, display cases and family
business archives. Upstairs rooms retain their spatial integrity
and finishes."