Staacke Brothers Building
a.k.a. Staacke Building;Exchange Furniture Building
309 E. Commerce St., San Antonio, TXThe Staacke Brothers Building is significant not only because it was designed by one of San Antonio's and Texas' most noted architects, James Riely Gordon, but because it is an excellent example of the architecture of the developing commercial society. It is one of Gordon's finest remaining buildings. Gordon combined new technology with changing attitudes and adapted Renaissance details of the Italian street architecture to meet the needs of his successful client. In San Antonio and in other trading centers of the state during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, it was becoming increasingly typical for a thriving enterprise to occupy a large, decorative commercial building. The successful merchants demanded buildings with distinction, particularly since illustrations of buildings often appeared with advertisements in newspapers thus presenting an identifying image to the public. The Staacke Building housed the largest carriage firm in the city known as Staacke Bros. The firm was established as a general merchandising business in 1849 by August F. Staacke, a German immigrant, who became one of the pioneer businessmen of Western Texas. The growth of the firm kept pace with that of the city and by 1894 Staacke Bros, occupied one of the most prominent buildings situated in the center of trade on E. Commerce Street. The highest priced business property was that along Commerce and Houston Streets.
Bibliography
Gordon, James Riely. Sketches From the Portfolio of James Riely Gordon, Archi-tect, San Antonio, Texas. St. Louis: A.B. Benesch Publishing Co., 1896. Jutson, Mary Carolyn. Alfred Giles: An English Architect in Texas and Mexico.
San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1972.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
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.