Henry House Skyscraper On Main St.

[Highrise Tower]

In 1919, Henry C. House proposed a 20-story office skyscraper (which was very tall at the time) at the corner of Main Street and Travis Street in downtown.

The building was supposed to serve as a memorial to his father and mother.

Henry House owned the corner of Main and Travis for 30 years prior to buying it from the Rich estate.

Herman Lee Meader of New York was the architect.  The building was co-developed with Preston S. Faust of Houston representing the New York interests.

Drawing of the skyscraper:

[Specwriter]

16 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

In 1919, Henry C. House proposed a 20-story office skyscraper (which was very tall at the time) at the corner of Main Street and Travis Street in downtown.

Highrise, can you clarify the location? Main and Travis run parallel to each other. They do not intersect.

[Highrise Tower]

7 hours ago, Specwriter said:

Highrise, can you clarify the location? Main and Travis run parallel to each other. They do not intersect.

Sure! Hope this helps.

The site of the structure fronts 58 feet on Texas Avenue and 100 feet on Main Street.

It's location between the extremes of the business section, and the fact it is diagonally across from The Rice Hotel are considered to enhance materially the value of the location for an office building.

The lessees also consider the transportation facilities at the junction of Texas Avenue and Main Street commend the site.

 

[Specwriter]

Thank you, Highrise. That's where the 48-story 609 Main building is located today (at least a piece of it). Given the city's reputation for demolishing and building new,  I wonder how long it would have stood if the 20-story House building had been built. The location was definitely well considered.