Sanger Brothers Complex

The block in downtown Dallas bounded by Elm Street on the north, Lamar Street on the east, Main Street on the south, and Austin Street on the west, contains four of the most significant buildings in the city. Examples of the High Victorian Italianate, Romanesque Revival and Commercial-Sullivanesque styles are to be found on this block.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the block is that its buildings represent a twenty-six-year progression of the history of the Chicago School of Design.

The oldest building in the complex, located in the center of the block facing north on Elm Street, was built in 1884. Five stories in height, the building is a masonry structure with load-bearing walls. As was typical of the period, a cast iron storefront at the street level supports the masonry edifice above. An equally typical feature is the High Victorian Italianate influence in the architectural motifs of its facade. The style was not, an ecclesiastical or a governmental style, but rather a domestic and commercial one.

A striking contrast exists between the High Victorian Italianate style of the older building and the Richardsonian Romanesque of the adjacent structure. The Sanger Building was constructed circa 1889 and occupies the southeast corner of Elm and Austin Streets. Built for one of the earliest merchandising firms in Dallas, Sanger Brothers Dry Goods, the structure represented an attempt to rival the style in Chicago in the late 1880s. A most significant achievement in the building construction industry had been introduced during this time: the steel skeleton framing system. The merchants of Dallas, wanting to build up the frontier city, were quick to try the new system. The Sanger Brothers store met with such success that it eventually required all of the space on the block.

On the adjacent corner at the intersection of Austin Street with Main Street is the Security Mortgage and Trust Company Building. Originally six stories in height, the building represents the finest existing commercial example of the Richardsonian Romanesque style in Dallas. Built circa 1888 in the heart of the city, the Security Mortgage and Trust Company occupied the building only a short while, for around 1895 Sanger Brothers purchased the property and added two floors.

The eastern half of block number 32 was originally occupied by the first Sanger Brothers Dry Goods store. Bounded by Main, Lamar, and Elm Streets, the structure was two stories in height with a cast iron storefront. The existing eight-story building was built in 1910. Designed by the local firm of Lang and Witchell, the expression of its steel skeletal frame is sophisticated compared with the Romantic ideals expressed in the other three buildings. Commercial-Sullivanesque in style, it represents the best example of the idiom in Dallas.

Sanger Brothers moved in 1966 from the old structures into their new store located several blocks up Main Street. Unfortunately, the decorative cornice that capped the Commercial-Sullivanesque building was removed when El Centro College bought the complex from Sanger Brothers. The first community college in Dallas, El Centro currently uses this building for classroom space. However, the other three buildings are currently scheduled for demolition with plans for using the space they occupy for an open courtyard. Local preservationists have organized a campaign to save the threatened buildings and adaptively reuse them. One of the many points the group is using to convince the college board not to destroy the buildings is that they represent three of only five remaining 19th-century buildings in downtown Dallas.