Kauffman and Runge Building - Strand Historic District - Galveston, TX - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

From the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form

The Strand Historic District (Period of Significance Amendment), Galveston, Galveston County, Texas

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.

The Texas Historical Marker near the main door adds a little more about its history:

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)