Purvin-Hexter Building
2038 Commerce St., Dallas, TXThe Purvin-Hexter building, located at the east end of downtown Dallas at 2038 Commerce Street, is a 2-story commercial building that is representative of a commercial building type common at the beginning of the 20th century. Constructed by a previous owner c.1899, with a c.1910 rear addition and modifications made to two facades in 1923, the Purvin-Hexter building was part of the commercial development that replaced residential structures and neighborhoods on the eastern edge of downtown Dallas; this occurred in conjunction with the city's commercial expansion to the east. In conjunction with this growth, this eastern edge of downtown Dallas has experienced several distinct business concentrations from that of 'automobile row' in the 1910s and 1920s to office supply establishments to commercial restaurant and refrigeration equipment in the 1950s and 1960s to neglect and demolition of many of its structures in the '70s and 80's to a current resurgence of these smaller buildings. The Purvin-Hexter buildings' tenants have been representative of these successive generations of businesses that are located at the fringe of a rapidly changing downtown.
While several other buildings from the early 20th century remain in this general area of Dallas, the Purvin-Hexter building is unique as its ownership remained in the same family for 98 years; partly as a result of this, the building retains much of its architectural integrity. Additionally, the two men most strongly associated with this building - the owner Jacob Purvin, a Jewish merchant and businessman, and his business associate Victor Hexter, a Jewish lawyer, embody the commercial and social contributions that Jewish citizens have made to Dallas' development and history. The building is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in the area of Commerce, at the local level of significance for its association with the early commercial history of the eastern end of downtown Dallas, and in the area of Social History, as a representative example of the contributions that Dallas' Jewish mercantile and business community made to Dallas' retail and development growth and history, at the local level of significance. The building is also nominated in the area of Architecture, at the local level of significance as an excellent example of an early 20th-century American Movement building in the Commercial Style in downtown Dallas.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
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.