Zach White Residenceand Carriage House
El Paso, Texas

Description: Zach White residenceand carriage house
Other Names: Flores house (residence of Jose M. and Helen Flores, from 1952 to about 1964); Amen Wardy Boutique (from 1964 to 1977); White House Department Store (briefly, beginning in 1977); currently Zach White Building
Address: 1201 North Mesa Street, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: domestic: single family home
Original Client: Zach T. White
Historic Inventory: listed on the El Paso Register of Historic Places in 1982, by the El Paso City Council
Date: 1905-1906
Condition: extant; in use as an office building

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost; interior by Fisher Stevens Co., Charles City, Iowa, after designs by Henry C. Trost
Contractors: John Hansen
Dimensions and Orientation: three stories; originally 48 feet 6 inches across, excluding side porch, 57 feet 11 inches deep, excluding porches; faces east
Architectural Style: Greek Revival
Budget/Cost: nearly $40,000

Foundation: concrete blocks over rubble stone
Wall Materials: yellow pressed brick
Roofing Materials:
Other Materials Used: white marble trim; composition exterior ornament; oak interior woodwork, with some mahogany
Remodeling and Additions: the side porch on the north was removed when the carriage house was enlarged and incorporated into an addition to the main building, in the 1970s; converted to offices, 1988

Present Owner: Barbara and Dr. John Liddicoat
Location of Drawings: El Paso Public Library: (U-3) 23 ink on linen sheets of plans, including elevations and details; dated December 11, 1905 (no roofing or third floor plan has been found)
Location of Documentary Photographs:

Bibliography: (1) Trost & Trost, Architects (El Paso: Trost & Trost, 1907), page 15 (photograph of portico); page 51 (photograph of south elevation); page 52 (photographs of drawing room fireplace, interior doorway, and dining room [room with leaded glass]); page 55 (photograph of portico); Fisher Stevens advertisement, page 70 [We finished complete the interior of residence of Z.T. White (shown in this book) El Paso, Texas.]
(2) El Paso Herald, May 30, 1906, page 9 (Z.T. White is erecting one of the handsomest residences in the city on Mesa Avenue, two stories, of yellow brick and marble trimming.)
(3) Resume of the Residences Now Being Erected,El Paso Herald, June 27, 1906, page 12 (report on progress of plastering and other finishing work; budget reported as nearly $40,000)
(4) Z. T. White’s Home, One of Handsomest in Southwest, El Paso Herald,January 30, 1907, page 12 (photograph of exterior, description of materials used)
(5) El Paso Chamber of Commerce, El Paso, the Story of a City, 1883-1910(El Paso: El Paso Chamber of Commerce, [1910]), unpaged (photograph of exterior)
(6) El Paso Chamber of Commerce, Prosperity and Opportunities in El Paso and El Paso’s Territory the 1911 Report of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce (El Paso: Chamber of Commerce, 1911), page 59 (photograph of exterior)
(7) Harriot Howze Jones, Heritage Homes; the Zach T. White House,Password, volume XVI, number 4 (Winter, 1971), pages 177-178 (description, biographical sketch of White family); page 177 (photograph of exterior)
(8) Betty Pierce, Couple Rescues Home from Abuse, El Paso Times, July 3,1988, page 11-B (on the renovation and history of the home; exterior photographs showing the building before and after restoration)

Remarks: There were 14 rooms, including a billiard room on the first floor. The third floor was the ballroom. The second floor contained five bedrooms and a sewing room, one full bath, one room for a bathtub, four half baths and numerous closets. A carriage house to the rear was later converted into a garage; its two room second story was used as servants’ quarters. Mexican onyx panels for living room fireplace were called for in the plans, but possibly they were not installed. This neoclassic house is similar in design to the Hoffecker house of a somewhat later date . The Zach White and Turney houses are the most lavish homes Trost & Trost built in El Paso.The seemingly eponymous White House Department Store, which for a brief time operated a boutique in the building, beginning in 1977, was not named for Zach White.

There was a full basement with utility rooms and two vault-like rooms with combination locks. There was moveable staircase that provided access to the roof. Zach White lived in the home until his death in 1940 after which time the family rented the house. It was sold in 1946 and converted into a dress shop. In 1964 Amen Wardy purchased it and continued a dress business in the home. Wardy left El Paso, and the home became a restaurant and nightclub. In the 1970s it was rescued and renovated.

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.