El Paso International Building
El Paso, Texas

Description: El Paso International Building
Other Names: Two Republics Life Building; City National Bank; El Paso National Bank (from 1927); Union Fashion Clothing Co., Inc.
Address: 222 Texas Avenue and 119 North Stanton Street, southwest corner, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: commercial: office and retail
Original Client: The Two Republics Life Insurance Company
Historic Inventory: nominated for the National Register; rejected in 1980; for records of these actions, contact: Texas Historical Commission, Austin
Date: 1919-1922
Condition: extant

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors: J. E. Morgan & Sons
Dimensions and Orientation: 8 stories appearing as 7; quadrangular base with L shaped shaft; 86.6 feet on Stanton Street x 120 feet on Texas Avenue
Architectural Style: early 20th Century Commercial with Chicago School/Sullivanesque Influences
Budget/Cost:

Foundation: concrete
Wall Materials: brick with terra cotta facing
Roofing Materials: tar and gravel over concrete slab
Other Materials Used: richly appointed lobby with marble walls and floors, stucco cornice, bronze gates and grilles
Remodeling and Additions: numerous interior remodeling’s to expand the banking offices and to adapt the building to later uses; modern show windows installed; bays in filled with reflective glass

Present Owner: El Paso Natural Gas Company
Location of Drawings: El Paso Public Library: (F-2) 32 ink on linen, sheets, including side, front and alley elevations, dated August, 1919, Commission 2468; (L-25) 8 tissue sheets for interiors of City National Bank, dated January 22, 1920; one tissue sheet for proposed remodeling, dated August 28, 1926; (L-28) one tissue to add new door; (L-26) 3 pencil on tissue floor plans, one each for office space on second, third and seventh floors; a blueprint for the seventh floor; ink-on-tissue perspective of bank lobby.
Location of Documentary Photographs: El Paso Public Library: Aultman 5963, perspective view; Ponsford 132, banking interior; Ponsford 142, interior door; Arizona State University, Luhrs Collection, banking interior; exterior

Bibliography:(1) El Paso Herald, July 4, 1919 page 12 ‘Plan to start work Sept 1 on New Building’
(2) El Paso Herald, February 12, 1921 page 35 and page 36 drawing of building and opening day

Remarks: (1) Copies of correspondence relating to the building in the El Paso Public Library: A. H. Rodes to Trost & Trost, February 5, 1920 and October 21, 1921.

In 1919, plans were completed for a $750,000 building for the Two Republics Life Insurance Company to be located on the corner of Stanton and Texas streets. On September 1 work began on the demolition of the current two story brick business block and hotel. The site was home to the little red brick Trinity M.E. Church building a few years earlier.

The Two Republics building was to be one of the city’s largest structures, with 86 feet on Stanton street and 120 feet on Texas street. It was not added to the National Register because of substantial remodeling replaced a high percentage of In 1919, plans were completed for a $750,000 building for the Two Republics Life Insurance Company, to be located on the southwest corner of Stanton and Texas streets. The building was to be one of the city’s largest structures, with 86 feet on Stanton and 120 feet on Texas. The plans called for an eight-story brick tower with terracotta facing and two entrances. When finished in 1921, it had 138 office rooms for lease. An ice water fountain was installed on each floor–a new modern feature.

The City National Bank signed a 20-year lease to occupy the entire ground floor and the basement beneath it. The entire seventh floor was occupied by the Two Republics Life Insurance company. The rest of the floors were occupied by lawyers, doctors, contracting companies, and other firms. The last offices of Trost & Trost was located on the top floor. On the southwest corner of the building was the Kohlberg Brothers cigar store.

The interior lobby of the bank was revetted with fancy pink marble. There were eleven bronze bank cages for clerks and tellers. In the basement was the largest safety deposit vault in the state.

In the 1960s the exterior was modified with the addition of dark, unsightly windows separated by strips of painted concrete, gravely damaging the original articulation. As a result, a bid to have the edifice added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 was rejected.

building’s exterior materials.

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990