Wilson Building

at 1800 Main St, Dallas , 75201 United States

The Wilson Building is an historic 12-story building in the Main Street district of downtown Dallas, Texas. The building was completed in 1904 and patterned after the Palais Garnier in Paris, France. The historic structure fronts Main Street on the south, Ervay Street on the east, and Elm Street on the north. The Wilson building was the tallest structure in Dallas from 1904–1909 and was considered the premier commercial structure west of the Mississippi. The Wilson Building is situated across from the flagship Neiman Marcus Building and is adjacent to the Mercantile National Bank Building.HistoryThe building was built for J.B. Wilson (1847–1920), who moved from Canada to Dallas and made his fortune in cattle during the 19th century. Designed by Sanguinet & Staats of Fort Worth, the plan of the building is "E"-shaped with rounded corners featuring intricate stone and brick work. The building contained 9 elevators: 2 for the department store and 7 for office tenants. Among its many luxuries, it was connected to a 1,500 ft deep artesian well and contained 2 telegraph offices.The structure originally housed the Titche-Goettinger Department Store in the basement and first two levels; upper levels housed offices accessed through a lobby on Main Street. Prior to the building's opening, most of Dallas retail traffic was centered several blocks to the west. The success of the Wilson Building and Titche-Goettinger convinced Neiman Marcus to build their flagship store across Main Street and forever changed the city's retailing history.

Address and contacts of Wilson Building

place map
Wilson Building
1800 Main St
Dallas , TX 75201
United States
Email
Contact Phone
P: (866) 836-3648
Website
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Company Rating

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Summary

Wilson Building is Dallas based place and this enity listed in Apartment & Condo Building category. Located at 1800 Main St TX 75201. Contact phone number of Wilson Building: (866) 836-3648

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Dallas Cotton Exchange Building
Dallas , TX null United States

The Dallas Cotton Exchange Building was a 17-story tan brick and concrete building on the corner of North St. Paul and San Jacinto Streets in downtown Dallas, Texas. It was built in 1926 and was for decades Dallas' second-tallest, as the city was growing into the largest inland cotton market in the U.S. By 1971, though the city had become the financial capital of the cotton industry, the exchange housed more Baptists than brokers because of offices rented to nearby First Baptist Church. By 1987 the building sat vacant.Foreclosure and demolitionNew owner James Louis Williams purchased the Cotton Exchange Building in 1985 and planned to tear it down to build a new 52-story tower in its place. But due to the savings and loan crisis that began in the late 1980s, Williams ended up in bankruptcy court, which in 1991 cut his debt on the structure from $15 million to $9.9 million. Meanwhile, the original lender on the building, First RepublicBank Corp., had failed in 1988, sending the loan to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. In 1991, demolition crews were hired to implode the structure.City inspectors determined that the Cotton Exchange's precast concrete panels, attached during a 1960s renovation, had a high asbestos content and should be removed before implosion. When these were removed, it was discovered that the building's original 1926 exterior was intact and efforts were initiated to save the building from implosion. Then-Mayor Steve Bartlett attempted to persuade Mr. Williams to seek a buyer who would convert the offices to apartments, but the Dallas City Council did not pass enhanced tax abatements for inner-city housing renovations until October 1993, too late to stop the process. On June 25, 1994, the building was destroyed by implosion.LegacyThe site was eventually acquired by First Baptist Church, which in 2013 plans to open a $115 million state-of-the-art campus on land that includes the former Cotton Exchange Building footprint. The stone lions, a signature architectural detail of the building, now grace the Maple Avenue entrance of the Stoneleigh Hotel.