Foley, W. L., Building

Just around the corner from old Market Square in downtown Houston, and separated by one building from a National Register structure, the old Cotton Exchange Building, the W. L. Foley building has played a distinctive role in the Houston business district since 1860. After John Kennedy, an early merchant and Indian trader, built the building in 1860, it served as a Confederate armory during the Civil War, and survived 2 looting and damage inflicted by Confederate veterans and a fire in 1888 which destroyed about half the building, as well as a fire in 1976 which damaged the two upper stories and caused water damage to the ground floor. The existing three-bay Victorian facade and addition were designed in 1889 by Eugene T. Heiner (1852-1901), also the architect of the nearby Cotton Exchange Building, and built by John Lucas and A. C. Moran, principal contractors. Two years earlier ownership of the building had passed to W. L. Foley, the "dean of Houston dry goods merchants" and son-in-law of John Kennedy. W. L. Foley Dry Goods Co. was operated in the building until 1948. Then it remained vacant for several years until it became the home of a lively entertainment establishment, the Village Inn Pizza Parlor, in the late 1960's and early 1970's, when an effort began to rejuvenate the old Market Square area. The building that is thought to be the oldest commercial building in the city at its original site is in the same block with the Foley and old Cotton Exchange Buildings, at 813 Congress.

Old Market Square, around the corner from the Foley Building, is thought to be the earliest open-market type, central trading area in Houston, and was the site of the earlier city hall for the city of Houston. Due to the popularity of this site, many merchants deliberately located their permanent structures as close to the square as possible.

After a fire in August, 1860, destroyed most of the block on which the Foley Building now stands, including Kennedy's Trading Post, which John Kennedy had established in 1843, Kennedy had a three-story brick building, 100 feet long by 80 feet deep, erected at the intersection of Congress at Travis, facing Travis. The 1860 building had four 25' by 80' bays, with Kennedy's Trading Post occupying the Congress corner quarter of the building.

Having served as a Confederate armory during the war, the building was looted by a group of Confederate veterans seeking cartridges and lead after the South surrendered. Kennedy pleaded with the looters to stop, but to no avail. They were scattering gun powder throughout the building and he feared the danger of an explosion or fire. Finally he hired men and teams of horses to flood the building with water, load the powder and ammunition on drays and dump them off the Milam St. Bridge into Buffalo Bayou.
With Kennedy's death in 1878, ownership of the building went to his children. His daughter, Mary Frances, had married a Houston dry goods merchant, William L. Foley, in 1873.
Another fire in 1888 destroyed the northern two bays of the building. Foley's name was on the recycled Kennedy building and addition when its brick three-bay facade was added in 1889, but he did not move his business there until 1896. Foley inherited part of the property from his wife, Mary Frances, when she died in 1886, and bought the other part from her brother, John Kennedy, Jr.

Foley was known as the "dean of Houston dry goods merchants" because so many young men learned the trade from him, such as his nephews, James A. and Pat Foley, who immigrated to Houston from Ireland to work under him. James and Pat founded Foley Bros. in 1900, an organization still prospering as part of the Federated Stores chain.

When W. L. Foley died in 1925, the property was divided equally among his three children. W. L. Foley Dry Goods Co. continued to operate under the supervision of the children until 1948. The last of the children, Blanche, died in 1963, leaving the property to the Sisters of the Incarnate Word. The building remained vacant for several years after the clothing store closed.

While housing the Village Inn Pizza Parlor in May, 1976, a fire caused major damage to parts of the second and third floors and water damage to the first floor. The building is owned by Jazz Palace, Inc., with Gregory J. Gallagher as president. It is now vacant.