National Register Listing

Hofheintz-Reissig Store

a.k.a. Waterloo Compound

600 E. 3rd St., Austin, TX

Originally built for German emigrant Henry Hofheintz just three blocks south of Austin's present Sixth Street Commercial Historic District (listed in the National Register), the Hofheintz-Reissig Store is a vernacular version of middle to late 19th-century commercial architecture with German influence and of native ashlar. The two-story limestone structure, with its combination saloon and residence, is significant as the only surviving complex of its kind in the city, and is also important to down-town Austin as a reminder of the earlier relationship between larger commercial establishments and surrounding smaller-scale businesses located in early residential neighbor-hoods. This ell-shaped vernacular building, whose architectural integrity remains intact, is an excellent representation, not only of the evolution of an historic era, but also the German-influenced domestic and commercial architecture predominant in Texas during the second half of the 19th century.

Local significance of the building:
Commerce; Architecture

Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

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.