- Neighborhood
- Downtown
- Year built
- 1909
- Style
- Chicago School
- Era
- Early 20th Century
- Architect
- D. H. Burnham & Company
- Designations
- National Register of Historic Places (listed May 23, 1980) · City of Houston Landmark (designated July 26, 2000)
Significance
The eleven story Scanlan Building was completed in 1909 at Main and Preston streets. It was envisioned by Thomas Howe Scanlan, a two-time mayor of Houston, and built after his death in 1906 by his seven daughters as a memorial to him. It stands on the site of the first official home of the president of the Republic of Texas. Designed by D. H. Burnham & Company of Chicago, it is the only known Houston office building by that nationally prominent firm and the first building of its size in the city designed by a major national architect. It was among the first in Houston to use a fireproof steel skeleton, and as the first building to rise above ten stories it set the pattern for the downtown skyscrapers that followed. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 23, 1980, and its interior was later renovated for coworking offices.
Climate risks tracked
Click a risk to see what it means for this building.
As an early steel frame tower wrapped in masonry and terra cotta, the Scanlan Building's key vulnerability is water getting behind its cladding. Wind-driven rain during hurricanes can enter through aging mortar joints and window perimeters, and once moisture reaches the embedded steel it can rust and expand, cracking the terra cotta from the inside. Periodic facade inspections and careful repointing with compatible mortar are the most character-friendly protection. At street level, the building sits near Buffalo Bayou in the part of downtown that flooded during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, when water filled basements and tunnels. Protecting basement mechanical and electrical equipment, and using removable flood barriers at storefronts instead of permanent walls, lets the historic ground floor stay intact while reducing risk.
Use the preservation assistant to talk through retrofit strategies for these specific threats.
Location
Nearby landmarks
Preservation Assistant
Grounded in Scanlan Building
Suggested questions
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