Maverick Building
606 N. Presa, San Antonio, TXThe Maverick Building is a historic building in downtown San Antonio. It is the tallest building in the area and was built in the 1920s and is a good example of the architecture of the time period.
The Maverick Building was built in 1922 by the Estate of George M. Maverick (1845-1913) on the site of the old Maverick Hotel demolished in 1921 to extend the Presa Street right-of-way north of Houston Street. The site was part of the extensive land investments of the Maverick Family that, since the mid-19th century, included a great deal of property on what became known as Houston Street. By the 1880s, the Maverick Family was credited as the major developer of this part of downtown.
The Maverick Building was among the first completed as part of the building boom that changed the face of San Antonio's downtown in the 1920s prior to the Depression. It was noted for its "simplicity of design in marked contrast to office building ideas of ten years ago." Because of its prominent location, and its stature as the tallest building near Alamo Plaza, the Maverick Building dominated the skyline of the northeastern edge of downtown.
The Maverick Building meets Criterion C (local level) in the area of architecture, as an intact, early example of the city's skyscraper architecture, as an early local example of reinforced concrete architecture, and as the only known local example of highrise architecture by the firm of L. Harrington Company, Architects. It also meets Criterion A (local level) in the area of community planning and development for its association with the modernization of San Antonio's infrastructure in the teens and early 1920s, the city's subsequent construction boom period of construction in the 1920s, and the Maverick Family's role in the development of Houston Street for some 75 years. The period of significance extends from 1922 to 1945.
Bibliography
Carson, Chris and William McDonald (eds.) A Guide to San Antonio Architecture. San Antonio: San Antonio Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 1986.
Davis, EUis A. and Edwin H. Grobe (comp. and ed.) New Encyclopedia of Texas. Dallas: Texas Development Bureau, ca. 1930.
Henry, Jay. Architecture in Texas, 1895-1945. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.
Heusinger, Edward W. A Chronology of Events in San Antonio. San Antonio: Standard Printing Company, 1951.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.