W. T. Grant Company
El Paso, Texas
Description: W. T. Grant Company
Other Names: The Buckler Building; McCrory’s
Address: 203-207 North Mesa Street (northwest corner, Texas Avenue and North Mesa Street), El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: commercial: retail with offices
Original Client: uncertain; see “Remarks”
Historic Inventory:
Date: 1910?-see Remarks, below
Condition: extant: restored in 2013 and occupied by CVS Drugstore.
Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors:
Dimensions and Orientation: a first story block with U-shaped second story; full basement; entry now on Mesa facing East
Budget/Cost: 1911-$25,000
Foundation: concrete
Wall Materials: brick with concrete trimming
Roofing Materials: flat
Other Materials Used:
Remodeling and Additions: 1925(?),1932(?); see Remarks, below CVS Remodeling 2013
Present Owner: The McCrory Companies
Location of Drawings:
Location of Documentary Photographs: El Paso Public Library: Aultman A5159, perspective view; 128, Southwest corner; 185, ruins of the Buckler Building.
Bibliography: El Paso Herald, January 11. 1911 page 23 ” A Big New Business Home”
Remarks: Photograph 185, the ruins of the Buckler Building, is inscribed on the back in pencil, “Twice destroyed by fire 8/16/10 6/17/32.” The photograph is undoubtedly of the aftermath of the 1910 fire.
The original Buckler Building was a three-story brick building with small retail shops on the ground floor. The reconstructed building, without doubt the work of Trost, retained the small shops on the street floor and added two one-story office wings above. The west wall of the previous building was retained, as can be seen in photograph 128. Photographs 128 and A5159 date from before 1915 when the Commercial National Bank, a tenant in the building, moved to their own building. The client for the reconstruction is unknown.
By July 1, 1925, Trost & Trost had completed work for the W. T. Grant Company at a cost of $13,000 less than my estimate. A Letter from A.F. Evans to A.G. Trost, El Paso Public Library, Ponsford Collection . The letter may refer to work to consolidate the small ground floor shops and basement into retail space for the single client, and to change the main entry to Mesa. The damage that resulted from the 1932 fire is unknown to the writers.
The street floor has undergone several remodeling, but the hand of Trost is still apparent on the second floor.
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