Palace Hotel

Significance

Built in 1903 and attributed to architect Olle J. Lorehn, the Palace Hotel is a rare surviving Romanesque Revival commercial building on Houston's near east side. Its round arched windows, rough stonework and corner turret recall the era when La Branch Street was a busy corridor between downtown and the Second Ward's working class neighborhoods. The building served travelers and workers in the rail and warehouse district and is one of the oldest surviving hotel buildings in the city. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, it stands as a reminder of the dense, walkable commercial city that existed before Houston's automobile era.

Climate risks tracked

The near east side drains slowly, and the Palace Hotel's masonry ground floor has absorbed street water in past storms; sacrificial, easily dried finishes at the lowest level and raised electrical systems limit damage without changing the historic appearance. The round arched window openings and stone trim are the building's defining features and its most vulnerable; keeping mortar joints sound and sills sloped to shed water protects them from Houston's driving rain. The corner turret and its cap should be anchored and inspected before hurricane season, and the flat roof's drainage kept clear so ponding water cannot work into the masonry below.

Use the preservation assistant to talk through retrofit strategies for these specific threats.

Location