Former Cotton Exchange Building - Houston TX
N 29° 45.810 W 095° 21.673
15R E 271694 N 3294915
The state historic marker at the former cotton exchange building in Houston recalls the first use of this handsome building
Waymark Code: WMVDD7
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/04/2017
Views: 3
This beautiful red and white Romanesque Revival building was built in 1884 to be the home of the Houston Cotton Exchange. The building was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
From the Nomination Form (available in the Texas Historical Sites Atlas), the statement of significance for this beautiful building:
"The Old Cotton Exchange or Merchants' Exchange Building is located at 202 Travis Street, on the southwest corner of Travis and Franklin streets, adjacent to The Old Market Square, an area of stores, restaurants and taverns in late nineteenth century structures.
The site for this elaborately decorated brick Victorian commercial structure was purchased in 1883 for $12,200. Eugene Heiner was designated architect for the Exchange building and sent east to inspect similar structures and select building materials. His plans were accepted January 4, 1884; by March, $40,000 was raised and the construction contract was let to Max Kosse. On June 9, 1884, the cornerstone was laid.
The structure was completed by November 15, 1884, and was described in a Sunday, May 4, 1884, Houston Post article as being in "modern renaissance style of architecture. " The article describes the building as a three-story structure on a raised basement, "of red pressed brick, ornamented with colored brick such as buff, black, white, and blue of the same quality and trimmed with natural stone." The pediment of the structure was topped with a bale of cotton surrounded by a crown.
According to Fifty Years a Cotton Exchange, published by the Exchange in 1924, the trading floor occupied an upper floor. Contemporary newspaper descriptions of the building indicate that the trading floor occupied the second and third floors and was two stories in height.
About 1907, the building was remodelled. The trading floor was moved to the first floor, a fourth floor was added and the entrance was changed from the center of the Travis Street facade to the south corner of the same facade. It would seem that these changes took place in 1907, for the Exchange borrowed money and sold some of it s property at that time. The Houston City Directory also lists occupants for fourth floor offices in the Cotton Exchange Building .
The elaborately decorated brick facade contains a wealth of Victorian brickwork and stonework. The Travis and Franklin street facades divide the building into a first floor and then a piano nobile floor, consisting of the second and third floors.
The more recent fourth floor has lower ceiling heights and plainer, less pleasing decoration. The Travis Street elevation is divided into three bays with a large segmental arched aperture in the center bay, which originally marked the main entrance. A round-headed arch with a "romanesque revival" double window with a roundal above terminates the original decorative scheme for the central bay. The round-headed arch, first floor segmental arches, and the first floor pilasters have alternating bands of brick and dressed stone with a gouged, foliated pattern.
Pilasters separate the windows in the flanking bays on the Travis Street facade. The first floor has segmental stone arches with keystones, and the present entrance has a large segmental arch extending the width of the bay. Pilasters which run the height of the second and third floors are brick with stone plinths and coping stones. The capitals are a Victorian rendering of the Ionic order . Windows on the second and third floors are
framed with dressed stone. Those on the second floor have pedimental lintels and those on the third floor have segmental arch lintels.
The cornice above the fourth floor of the structure is of galvanized iron supported by pairs of brackets above the pilaster. There is a plain brick parapet above the cornice. The Franklin Street facade continues the decorative scheme of the Travis Street elevation with the facade on this elevation divided into five bays. The rear and south side elevations are undecorated brick covered with stucco.
The Old Houston Cotton Exchange is vacant and at the present time there are plans for the rehabilitation of the structure by a Houston historical organization."
The state historic marker on the front of the building reads as follows:
"HOUSTON COTTON EXCHANGE AND BOARD OF TRADE
Founded in 1874 to facilitate trade in the expanding cotton market. This Victorian Renaissance Revival edifice, designed by Eugene T. Heiner, was built in 1884-85 by contractors Max Kosse and James S. Lucas. The exchange room and galleries were situated on the second and third floors, and the first floor contained offices and the exclusive "Houston Club." The basement housed a plush saloon. The structure was remodeled and the fourth floor added in 1907. The exchange vacated the premises in 1924. The building was restored in 1973.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1974"
The former exchange building is located at 202 Travis Street, at the corner of Travis and Franklin Streets in downtown Houston.
Name: Houston Cotton Exchange
Address:
202 Travis
Houston TX
Country: USA
URL: [Web Link]
Is this exchange still active at this location: no
Activity Period: 1884-1924
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