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W. S. Hills Building
El Paso, Texas

 

Description: W. S. Hills Building
Other Names:
Address: 215-219 East San Antonio Avenue (also fronts on Texas Avenue), El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: commercial: retail store and offices
Original Client: Mrs. W. S. Hills
Historic Inventory: National Register number 80004104
Date: 1926
Condition: extant

Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Associated Architect or Firm:
Contractors:
Dimensions and Orientation: two stories; trapezoidal, extending through the middle of its block, from East San Antonio Avenue to Texas Avenue, with entries on both streets; 110 feet wide on Texas, 102 feet wide on San Antonio
Architectural Style: Second Renaissance Revival
Budget/Cost: $70,000

Foundation: concrete
Wall Materials: concrete piers with marble facing
Roofing Materials: composition
Other Materials Used: cast stone, galvanized iron
Remodeling and Additions:

Present Owner: Coles Brothers Agents
Location of Drawings: El Paso Public Library: (O-5) 11 ink-on-linen sheets dated March, 1926, including North and South elevations; another set privately owned
Location of Documentary Photographs:

Bibliography: El Paso Herald, January 7, 1926, page 2, column 4

Remarks: Commission 2648

Mr. Hill arrived from St. Louis in 1879 to investigate the real estate holdings of a St. Louis firm. Mr. Hill realized the potential of growth in the area and established himself as a realtor and constructed the first two story building in the settlement of adobe structures. The new building served as a residence and office. It sat on the site where the current Hill building stands today.

Mrs. Hill arrived three years later with their son. Mr. Hill died at the turn of the century and later Mrs. Hill moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mrs. Hill before leaving El Paso hired the firm of Trost & Trost to design a two story building on the site of the original  one in memory of her husband.

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