National Register Listing

Illies Building-Justine Apartments

503 21st St., Galveston, TX

The Illies Building/Justine Apartments (1929) is one of the few surviving pre-Depression Era multi-story residential buildings in Galveston. The housing of this type became popular in and near the central business district to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding workforce, which could not afford the more luxurious houses in the adjacent East End (East End Historical District, N.R. 7-3-75; N.H.L. 5-11-76) and Silk Stocking neighborhoods. The Illies Building/Justine Apartments is an addition to the multiple resource nomination, Historic Resources of Galveston Central Business District/Downtown (NR 1984). The building is eligible under Criterion C in the area of Architecture at the local level of significance.

The Illies Building/Justine Apartments was erected on the site of the earlier Illies Building (1867), one of the oldest commercial buildings on Galveston Island. The original 2-story wooden frame structure was built by brothers Nelson and J. Burbank from Cincinnati, Ohio, on land leased from Mrs. Justine Illies, widow of pioneer Galvestonian John Henry Illies. After Nelson Burbank died during the yellow fever epidemic in 1867, his brother sold the building to Mrs. Illies. She resided there until 1890.

When the original building was razed to make way for the new apartment block, the Galveston Daily News ran a feature article marking the passing of an era. The front page essay heralded the modern conveniences of the proposed apartment building, but also fondly remembered the small wooden building as "the last remaining wooden structure on the west side of 21st Street."

The architect of the new building, Donald Neil McKenzie, was born in Galveston on November 18, 1871, the son of Justine Illies McKenzie and her second husband Donald McKenzie, a Galveston businessman. Donald Neil McKenzie attended college at the University of Texas and received his architectural degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Returning home to Galveston, McKenzie enjoyed a healthy commercial and residential practice for over 30 years. In 1929, he and his half-brother, real estate capitalist C.J.H. Illies, designed and built the apartments which came to bear the name of their now-deceased mother, Justine.
On January 20, 1930, the Galveston Daily News ran its first advertisement for the Illies Building/Justine Apartments. The ad described efficiency apartments including a living room, with a built-in murphy bed, bedroom, breakfast room, kitchenette, and tile bath. They also boasted electric refrigerators, gas stoves, ceiling fans, and incinerators. These accommodations were far above comparable rental apartments available elsewhere in Galveston. As such, the new building represented a significant departure in multi-family housing that was already underway in major urban areas of the state and country. The Illies Building/Justine Apartments, however, was completed just before the downturn in the economy of 1929 and the subsequent Depression of the 1930s. These factors made it the last multi-family building constructed in Galveston's central business district for several decades and one of two significant 1920s buildings remaining in Galveston.

Early occupants of the building represented a rising middle class with diverse occupations. Among the original seven tenants listed in the 1930 Galveston City Directory, were a stenographer, a real estate agent, a dry goods store owner, and a newspaper reporter. The ground floor originally contained a small tailor's shop in the north lease space and a cafe in the south.

Donald Neil McKenzie died three years after the completion of the Illies Building/Justine Apartments. Subsequently, in 1938, C.J.H. Illies died with no descendants. The Galveston County Probate Court distributed an estimated $415,892 of personal property and real estate, including the Illies Building/Justine Apartments, to the maternal heirs, namely John Henry Flett of California, a first cousin of Justine Illies McKenzie. When the majority of the estate was put up for sale, a consortium of local businessmen including W.J. Guyette, William J. Guyette Jr., Peter T. Laros, and Thorton Mostyn purchased the Illies Building/Justine Apartments. Twelve years later, however, a group of 22 plaintiffs challenged the probate court's ruling claiming to be paternal descendants. Their suit declared they were descendants of Franzisca Illies, a sister of John Henry Illies, and therefore rightful heirs of Illies estate, which was now estimated at $1,500,000. In a highly publicized District Court case in October of 1950, lawyers representing 22 plaintiffs and 26 defendants battled to determine the ancestral existence of Franzisca Illies. On November 3, 1950, the jurors returned a verdict in favor of the defendants (Fletts et al). The verdict was later reversed by the Galveston Court of Civil Appeals, and the suit went to the Texas Supreme Court. In July 1951 the state's highest court sustained the original verdict, and dismissed the case against the owners of the Illies Building/Justine Apartments, ending a long and bitter legal battle.

The current owner purchased the building from the Resolution Trust Corporation in 1989 and renovated the apartments, repairing the elevator, and upgrading the existing electrical, heating, and air conditioning, plumbing, and fire alarm systems. Renovation to the upper floor apartments consisted only of new flooring, kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, and repainting walls and trim. No walls were removed or relocated, and the room layout remains identical to the original. The owner intends to leave the existing storefront and repair the canopy and transoms.

The Illies Building/Justine Apartments is an addition to the Historic Resources of Galveston Central Business District/Downtown listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. This multiple-resource listing includes 22 buildings in a variety of architectural styles dating from the late 19th to early 20th century. The Jean Laffite Hotel (NR 1984) is the most similar with its masonry over concrete frame construction and Renaissance Revival elements on the ground and upper floors. All other buildings listed in the central business district are different in architectural style and material.

The Illies Building/Justine Apartments is one of the few remaining multi-story residential buildings from the early 20th century in Galveston's central business district and as such represents architectural trends in the central business district during the 1920s.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1995.