About
The Historic Medical Arts Building (HMAB) is a proposed renovation of the existing structure in the downtown Galveston historical district. The owner and developer is Mr. Andy Vickery, a Yale-educated Texas trial lawyer licensed to practice law in Texas for 40 years. The art deco Medical Arts Building, designed by architect Andre Fraser, was an annex to the American National Insurance Co. building of 1913, which was demolished in 1972 after the company moved into its 20-story downtown tower in 1971. The building later housed medical offices, hence the name.
HMAB is a dynamic mixed use development housed in the eleven stories Historic Medical Arts Building (HMAB) located at the corner of 21st Street and Mechanic Avenue in Galveston, Texas. As a Registered Historic National Landmark, the Historic Medical Arts Building has been a prominent feature in the Galveston skyline for more than eighty years and was home to the original owner, American National Insurance Company, until 1970.
HMAB includes the complete interior renovation of 60,000 square feet of the Historic Medial Arts Building and exterior and interior renovation of the attached six-story, 23,400 square foot building facing Mechanic Avenue. The total development will include 83 apartments and 6,365 square feet of retail/restaurant space.
The site defines the Southeast corner of Galveston’s Strand’s Historic Landmark District in the heart of Galveston and is five blocks from The University of Texas Medical Center and two blocks from the Strand. The development is designed to be environmentally friendly and promotes bicycle and pedestrian connectivity to the Medical Center, downtown Galveston and the Historic Strand. HMAB is an optimal choice for urban students and professionals.
HMAB will feature first class amenities, including a 1,600 square foot entertainment lounge, a 1,850 square feet fitness and conference center, complete internet connectivity, 24 hour security, optional covered parking and the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you live in a building designed to withstand the worst of storms. In addition, residents will also enjoy a 6th floor roof top pool plaza that includes covered gazebos, barbeque and a stunning view of downtown Galveston, the Strand and the Gulf of Mexico beyond.
Note: The Medical Arts building remains unoccupied and continues to fall into disrepair.
History
The Historical Medical Arts Building is located in the southeast boundary of the Strand National Historic Landmark District. It was built by the American National Insurance Company in 1927 and completed by 1929. The main façade fronts of 21st Street in Galveston, on the corner with Mechanic. The building reflects the skyscraper movement of the early 20th century with some Art Deco detailing.
The Strand National Historic Landmark District is recognized as the main commercial area in Galveston from 1850’s to the early 1900’s. The architectural design has been identified with the area buildings dated from the latter third of the 19th century. The Strand district continued to be the center of Galveston’s port and business activities.
The architect of the building was Andrew Fraser who was responsible for three of the most imposing buildings built on the city’s landscape in the 1920’s: the Jean Laffite Hotel built in 1927, the Medical Arts Building, and the Buccaneer Hotel built in 1929 on the Seawall. All these buildings we owned by William Lewis Moody, Jr. who moved the American National Building from Houston to Galveston. Frazer was a Scottish architect that immigrated to the United States around 1915 and worked in several American cities.
Historical and Cultural Significance:
The Strand National Historic Landmark District is recognized as being “the principal commercial area in Galveston from the 1850’s to the early 1900’s.” (1976 NR application) Its architectural distinction has been identified with the assemblage of buildings dating from the latter third of the nineteenth century. However, following the 1900 hurricane, the Strand area continued to be the center of Galveston’s port and non-retail activities, as reflected by several architecturally significant buildings constructed within the district boundaries during the 1920s.
The eleven-story Medical Arts Building, which serves as a visual focus and architectural anchor to the southeast corner of the district, is one example. It was built in 1927-29 by Moody family interests as headquarters for its Galveston based American National Insurance Company (Anico).
In 1904, Galveston entrepreneur and financier William Lewis Moody, Jr., became affiliated with a Houston based insurance company which he moved to Galveston one year later and incorporated as the American National Insurance Company. According to The New Handbook of Texas, Moody believed he could compete successfully with the eastern dominated insurance industry. His prediction was an understatement: By 1920, Anico was called “the Giant of the South” among insurance companies. Moody served as president until his death in 1954.
First officing with ten employees in a Moody owned and built structure on the corner of Strand and 22nd Street, the company’s growth soon necessitated more space. In 1912, an eleven story building, the American National Insurance Company building, was constructed at the corner of 21st and Market (Avenue D). Initially, the insurance company occupied only two floors but additional office space was needed once again by the mid 1920s.
In 1928, when the Medical Arts Building was under construction at 21st and Mechanic (Avenue C), Anico employed 700 people locally, had absorbed 27 other insurance companies, and had assets totaling over $27,500,000. It was one of six insurance companies headquartered in Galveston, which had, in turn, become known as “the insurance center of the South.”
The architect for the Medical Arts Building was Andrew Fraser who was responsible for three of the most imposing buildings built on the city’s landscape in the 1920s: the Jean Lafitte Hotel built in 1927 in downtown Galveston; the Medical Arts Building; and the Buccaneer Hotel built in 1929 on the Seawall. All were Moody projects. Born in Inverness, Scotland in 1883, Fraser received his degree from Edinburgh University, immigrated to the United States probably in 1915, and worked in numerous American cities before moving from Austin to Galveston in 1926.
In describing the Medical Arts Building, Fraser stated that there was “no particular name for the architectural style, adding that it was a style “just in its development” and was “sometimes termed new American Gothic, or American Gothic perpendicular.” Fraser’s design duplicated the bulk, height, and window alignment of its 1912 neighbor, but utilized different materials and Art Deco decorative elements. (The two buildings offer an interesting early study in new and old.) The two buildings were joined by viaducts that spanned the alley on the third, fourth, and tenth floors.
Anico’s executive offices and directors, rooms, including President Moody’s office, moved to the eleventh floor of the Medical Arts Building once it was completed. Galveston city directories in the 1930s indicate that both buildings contained offices including full floors occupied by Anico as well as spaces leased to others, usually medical professionals and insurance agents. Various small businesses were located in the commercial spaces on the street level, the western union Telegraph Company renting the most visible spot at the corner of 21st and Mechanic.
Sanborn insurance maps state that the six story building attached to the east wall of the Medical Arts Building was built in 1926, perhaps to provide mechanical and other support services for the larger building. It appears as a completed building in an October 1, 1929, newspaper photograph.
By the mid-1960s, Anico had, once again, outgrown its space, and was looking for a more up to date architectural image. On September 19, 1968, ground breaking ceremonies were held for construction of a twenty story tower on the block immediately east of the Medical Arts and American National Insurance Company buildings. At the time, Anico was the 18th largest of 1700 insurance companies in the country, employing approximately 1,000 people in Galveston, and holding total assets above $1.25 billion.
Upon completion of the tower, Anico demolished the 1912 building but continued using the Medical Arts Building for some subsidiary activities. Eventually, the latter was also totally vacated and considered for demolition. The building is as essential, however, to the “sense of time and place and historical development” of the Strand National Historic Landmark.