Old Bryant-Link Building
a.k.a. West Texas Utilities
120 S. Swenson, Stamford, TX<p>The West Texas Utilities Building in Stamford is perhaps the city's most impressive architectural achievement, as well as a historically significant structure on both the local and regional levels. Started in 1928 for the Bryant-Link Company, one of Stamford's earliest and most successful commercial ventures, it remains one of the best and, perhaps, the only commercial example of the Plateresque style in the entire region.</p><p>The Bryant-Link Company began in Anson as a small farm-implements/dry-goods store in 1884. During 1900 the firm opened a store in Stamford and moved the company headquarters to the new city. The company prospered, and by the mid-1930s it owned stores in Stamford, Lamesa, Jayton, Post, and Spur. During the late 1920s, at the height of its prosperity, the company decided to construct a new and fashionable building on the site of its original large brick building. This structure was built in 1928 to house the company's home offices and its local dry goods and department store operation.</p><p>The firm chose the popular Spanish Colonial Revival (Plateresque) style to portray a lavish and contemporary picture for the public. The entire 850-ft. front facade was made of precast concrete in San Antonio, then shipped to the site and installed on the new building. Since its construction, it has remained one of Stamford's most noteworthy and unusual structures. After serving the Bryant-Link Company and other tenants for decades, the building was purchased by West Texas Utilities in 1973. the remodeling of the interior and refurbishing of the exterior, basically in a sympathetic manner, the structure was ready to embark on its next half-century as a local landmark and viable commercial structure. It has served the West Texas Utilities Company well for over a decade and shows every sign of forging ahead into the next century with its original character and most of its fabric intact.<br>After</p>
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
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.