Hogg Building
a.k.a. Pappas Building
401 Louisiana St., Houston, TXA complex of three connecting structures plus penthouse and solarium were completed for Will Hogg in the spring of 1921. At that time the project was referred to by local newspapers as the Armor Building since the first three floors were occupied by the Armor Auto Company. However, when the Great Southern Life Insurance Company shortly moved into its seventh floor offices and added a large vertical sign to the Louisiana-Preston corner it became known as the Great Southern Building and was so styled for the next thirty-one years. In 1952 Great Southern moved into new quarters, and the property was transferred to the Trustees of the Hogg Foundation, who changed the name temporarily to the Varner Building. After the Pappas Company bought the property in 1954, the complex was renamed the Pappas Building as it is currently known. For convenience it will be referred to hereafter as the Hogg Building or Hogg penthouse.
The complex has economic and industrial significance because of the men and businesses consolidated there for many years. Although recent modernization has obscured much of the exterior, proposed restoration will reveal its unusual architectural style. Above all, the buildings are important because of their association with the Hogg family--William Clifford Hogg in particular. His personal and financial support of social and humanitarian causes, his interest in art, education, conservation, city planning, and good government are unmatched in Houston.
When the plans were drawn and work began on the buildings for Will Hogg in late 1920, Houston was entering a decade of phenomenal growth as petroleum and related industries continued to swell the economy. Motor cars were manufactured, assembled, and sold in the city; and traffic - not to mention parking space - was already becoming a problem on downtown streets.
A concomitant of petroleum as significant as the resource itself was the influx of men who made their money in oil and reinvested it in Houston. Among the early arrivals was ex-Governor James Stephen Hogg, whose involvement with the Texas Company influenced the removal of his law offices to Houston. Following Hogg's death in 1906, the four children--William Clifford, Ima, Michael, and, for a time, Thomas Elisha--made their home in the city. Will, the oldest, continued his father's interest in the Texas Company and its subsidiaries while branching out into insurance, cotton, real estate, and numerous other investments.
One of these other investments was a 2/5 interest in the Armor Auto Company, a Ford dealership established in 1916. At the close of World War I the agency had outgrown its first two homes and had purchased land on the corner of Preston and Louisiana in Block 42, part of the original Borden plat of the city. Acting in concert but under the leadership of Will Hogg, the family bought the choice corner from Armor, added other land in the block, and planned a three-story auto show room and garage with penthouse offices for the Hogg family companies. While the project was in its formative stages, it became apparent that Great Southern, a local life insurance company founded in 1909, would soon require more space. As a friend and former business associate of its president, 0. S. Carlton, Will Hogg enlarged the corner section at Louisiana and Preston to seven stories to accommodate the insurance company and relocated the penthouse on the 8th floor roof. A central three-story section remained as planned, with provision in its foundation for additional floors. The one-story section at Prairie was designed to house the Hogg companies' fleet of automobiles. It was one of the first such facilities built in connection with an office building in Houston.
During the years that Great Southern was growing to fill the entire committed space, the intermediate floors were occupied by such tenants as the Kirby-Bonner Lumber Company, the Kirby Petroleum Company, Link Oil Company, Houston Independent School District, and later the City Planning Commission.
Although the Hogg family had interests in other structures in Houston, particularly in connection with their growing real estate developments, 401 Louisiana is the first and only known instance of a building specifically designed and built for the Hogg family's private offices.
From 1921 through 1936, when the lower floors were occupied by Armor Auto Company or its successors, the building symbolized the development and proliferation of the automobile and the automotive industry in Houston. It was an industry which changed the character and growth patterns of the city. From 1921 through 1952, while Great Southern Life Insurance Company maintained its home offices there, this successful company contributed materially to the stability or Houston's economy through security for its policyholders, investments in Houston, and employment opportunity afforded its growing clerical force. Its presidents during those years -0. S. Carlton, E. P. Greenwood, and L. S. Adams - were all respected civic leaders. Finally the unique penthouse epitomized the powerful forces for civic and economic benefit which have accrued to Houston because of the real estate and petroleum activities of the Hogg family and their close associates.
The penthouse first attracted public notice when a photograph and story appeared in the February 6, 1921, Houston Chronicle. Will Hogg, the reported observed, was building an 18-room bungalow "home in the clouds" on the roof of the Armor Building. There would also be a separate glassed-in observatory from which Hogg and his friends could look out in comfort all over the city. It was all copied, the reporter continued, from a similar penthouse completed two years before on a New York skyscraper. The penthouse never was a home in the accepted sense - although Mike Hogg in later years converted one of the offices into a gymnasium. However the early American furniture and accessories, Remington paintings, wood-burning fireplace and encircling green lawns did give the place a homelike atmosphere.
It was the site rather than the architectural style which seemed unusual to Houstonians in 1921. They had seen roof gardens before; they were familiar with the many "revival" styles which had for so long possessed American architects; but they had never seen a Mediterranean villa in the sky. Whether Hogg copied the idea from a New York model or whether his inspiration came from other sources is not known. But it is evident from his later performance that both the Mediterranean and Spanish revivals were among his favorites. He had been a Regent at the University of Texas when Cass Gilbert designed the Old Library Building in the Spanish idiom, and in some ways the Hogg penthouse is a greatly simplified relative. Hogg would also go on to endorse Spanish styles in River Oaks and the proposed Houston Civic Center. The penthouse could have been quite at home along the Riviera --Italian, French, or Spanish.
An architectural anthesis of the penthouse, the parent structure was just as unusual in Houston's business district. Over 65% of the exterior surface was made up of glass - multi-panned industrial windows in particular. A structure incorporating this feature had been built for the Ford Motor Company assembly plant on Harrisburg Boulevard several years before, but it was frankly designed and used as an industrial facility and was too far removed from the central city to attract much notice. The location of the Armor Building, however, was scarcely a block from Market Square and City Hall. It was the first and only known example of this style to be built for office use in downtown Houston.
Don Vlack (Art Deco Buildings in New York - 1920 - 1940, p. 79) has this to say about the genre: "The small pane of the so-called industrial window was used in the most expensive apartment houses as well as in the warehouse-office block. The psychological connection with a technological innovation originally used in total glass expanses such as the Dessau Bauhaus (1925) must have been appealing for domestic use. This is an excellent example of the conversion of a structural device into an ornamental one." Vlack's New York examples post-date 1925; so it is evident that the several examples of this style found in Texas by 1921 and the numerous others dotted around the United States at that time were among a small and largely unappreciated group of American factories, assembly plants, garages, or auto show rooms. The engineers who primarily built them were pioneering in the use of reinforced concrete, glass, and steel--rarely considering their works "architecture" at all. And yet many of the better examples were likely models for Bauhaus designers who were even then inciting an international architectural revolution.
Barglebaugh & Whitson (Charles E. Barglebaugh and Lloyd R, Whitson) were primarily engineers, although they listed themselves in El Paso and Dallas City Directories as architects as well. They may have been known to Will Hogg through his oil business since the two engineers had jointly discovered a new system of oil storage. The Hoggs could afford and appreciate quality in anything they undertook, and certainly Barglebaugh's credentials for the type structure desired were excellent.
According to Who's Who in Engineering (1922-23), Barglebaugh was an expert at concrete work, had studied architecture at the University of Illinois, and trained under Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Burley Griffin in Chicago before joining the well-known Dallas firm, Lang & Witchell, where he was chief engineer and drafting-room executive and later a junior partner for some ten years before opening his own firm with Lloyd R. Whitson in 1919. An interesting sidelight to his career was his invention of a light-weight concrete and his consequent commission during World War I to design and build concrete ships for the United States fleet. Also to Barglebaugh's credit was the design of a 16-story reinforced concrete office building for the First National Bank of El Paso and the reclamation of the city of Paris, Texas, after a severe fire in 1916. In the process he salvaged a 6-story concrete building after damage by fire and explosives. It was the second recorded instance of such an undertaking.
Following completion of the Houston commission for the Hogg family, Barglebaugh & Whitson, in association with F. C. Dale, were architects of the 1923 Medical Arts Building in Dallas. Whitson and Dale designed a 2-story penthouse atop the Santa Fe Terminal in Dallas in 1924, and other buildings in that area.
When restored, the Hogg Buildings will give excellent testimony to the philosophical dichotomy with which architects and clients wrestled in America in 1920-21. It is interesting that Will Hogg discreetly hid his traditional penthouse, although it reflected his personal fondness for America's past, while the glass, brick, and Art-Deco trim of the parent building courageously anticipated the future. When the 1963 skin is removed and the complex can be compared with the glass towers now forming its backdrop, it will be clear which philosophy prevailed.
During the 15 years that Will Hogg's buildings have been hidden behind a modern skin, the impact of this remarkable family has been increasingly felt in Houston; and the mystique surrounding the penthouse - nerve center of an empire - has grown proportionately. Columnists and reporters continue to supply glimpses of its fading grandeur to readers fascinated by the gracious business life-style of another era.
From 1839 to 1975, three generations of one distinguished family have made the name "Hogg" synonymous in Texas with public service of the highest order. The progenitor, Joseph Lewis Hogg, set an example of military and political service to Texas; his son, James Stephen Hogg, carried on the political tradition to become Governor of the state, 1891-1895. To his children, Governor Hogg left as a legacy not only rich oil lands but a sense of noblesse oblige which has inured to the benefit of all Texans.
Although the Hogg Buildings on Louisiana in Houston were a family enterprise, it is generally conceded that the concept and execution were attributable to the eldest son, William Clifford (b. 1-31-75 - d. 9-12-30). His contribution to Houston is perhaps best summed up by George Fuermann (Reluctant Empire, p. 151) in the following assessment of Houston's dominant figures during the first half of the 20th century: "A third man, the most gifted and altruistic of the city's leaders, tried to make Houston a utopia for its people. Will c. Hogg, son of Governor James Stephen Hogg, died too soon to fulfill his dreams." Because he died too soon, Will Hogg's name in Houston has largely been overshadowed by that of his remarkable and long-lived sister, Miss Ima, who carried on in her own way many of the plans and precepts of her older brother.
Neither Will nor Ima ever married, and together they collected the American antique furniture which filled the home they shared at 4410 Rossmoyne and later at 2940 Lazy Lane - "Bayou Bend." Many of the articles now part of the Bayou Bend Collection - given with the home to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts by Miss Ima before her death in 1975 - first furnished the Hogg penthouse at 401 Louisiana. The walls there were lined with Will Hogg's priceless collection of Remington paintings, also bequeathed to the Museum, an institution which both Will and his sister nurtured and supported to the fullest extent.
Conservation of natural beauty and resources was of constant interest to Will Hogg. It was undoubtedly this devotion to green space, trees, and flowers as well as an intolerance to the heat and humidity of Houston's climate, that inspired the garden surrounding the penthouse and the even more lavish display at Bayou Bend. It is interesting to note that the original 1920 plans for landscaping the penthouse included an unusual butterfly garden. While there is no evidence that these plans were carried out atop 401 Louisiana, a larger but similar butterfly garden is a feature of the grounds at Bayou Bend today. In order that citizens might also share in the pleasures or nature, Hogg provided thousands of crepe myrtle trees at no cost to residents of the city who would plant and care for them. Many still survive. Perhaps of paramount importance to Houston, Hogg secured Camp Logan, a World War I military facility, for the city as a spacious natural preserve now almost in the heart of the city. As Memorial Park it is enjoyed by literally thousands.
As a strong advocate of city planning, zoning, beautification, and orderly urban development, Will Hogg established the Forum of Civics, published at his own expense the attractive magazine, Civics for Houston, and served for several years beginning in 1927 as Chairman of the City Planning Commission. During that period he called in the firm of Hare & Hare to draw up a comprehensive plan for the future development of Houston. He secured the valuable Civic Center property for the city, and in so doing became outraged to learn that the Mayor was quite probably profiteering at the citizens 'expense. His courageous exposure had some temporary effect, but death came soon thereafter. It was not only Hoggs death but the onset of the depression which prevented the affirmative consideration of many of Hogg's proposals. However, in 1957, George Fuerman again cautioned the city that it would be wise even at that date "to abandon its quantitative thinking in favor of the goals of Will C. Hogg," which in Hogg's own words were, "to make the city more enjoyable, more adequately equipped, more beautiful--and consequently more useful for everyone who lives and works therein." As if to exemplify Hogg's conviction that beauty could also be profitable, he directed and planned the Houston subdivision, River Oaks, where winding streets, wooded home sites, and constantly increasing land values attest today to the wisdom of his thesis.
An evidence of Will Hogg's concern for the welfare of future Texans was his lifelong interest in education. He developed in 1911 the Organization for the Enlargement by the State of Texas of Its Institutions of Higher Learning. As president of the University of Texas Ex-Students' Association he pushed for construction of Gregory Gym, the University Commons, and the publication of the Alcalde, the Association's magazine. Hogg served as member of the Board of Regents of the University 1914-1916, and in 1917 led the fight to support University interests in the battle with Governor James E. Ferguson. Hogg also advocated and contributed financially to student loan funds at state colleges and Rice Institute.
After Hogg's death in 1930, his bequest established the Hogg Foundation which, at the request of Mike and Miss Ima Hogg, has been devoted to mental hygiene. In 1952 title to the Hogg buildings at 401 Louisiana and other property was transferred to the Foundation - Will Hogg Memorial Fund. Although the trustees soon sold the buildings, the proceeds have become a part of Will Hogg's legacy to the citizens of Texas.
But Will Hogg was not just an idealistic activist. He was also a practical business man, comfortable with himself and sure of his taste. Although 401 Louisiana was the only known Hogg family office building in Houston, it was designed not as a family monument but as a working home for the auto agency and insurance company. Unlike Houston's monument builders of the 1920's who ordered temples or mausoleum rising above a skyscraper base (the 1927 Niels Esperson Building, for example) Hogg hid his villa behind a plain brick wall. Of course, everyone knew it was there, but few were privileged to see it at close range. But as the evergreens and yucca inched above the parapet and the lights outlining the tile roof winked on in the evening, the sense of mystery heightened and gave rise to stories of midnight revels, secret stairs, and ladies' ghostly laughter. William B. Ferguson, long-time associate of the Hoggs, flatly denies that anything but business transpired there, but the rumors persist. As Houston Post columnist, Lynn Ashby, remarked recently, the fanciful tales "have more panache" than the probably truth--which is that Will Hogg used the spacious "living room" with wood-burning fireplace and the oval solarium dining room to entertain cronies like financier Jesse Jones, newspaperman Marcellus (Mefo) Foster, and architect John Staub with homely cornbread and black eyed peas cooked by Hogg maids Stella or Gertrude at home and transported by car to town.
John Staub, a close friend of the Hogg family, recently remarked to the Docents at Bayou Bend that it was regrettable indeed that the name of Will Hogg, who did so much for Houston and hoped to do so much more, was in danger of being forgotten by younger generations. Restoration of the complex of Hogg Buildings at 401 Louisiana could be a step toward renewed appreciation of William Clifford Hogg and the goals he set for Houston.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
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.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Harris County experienced rapid economic diversification and growth. The discovery of oil in the Spindletop field fueled Houston's emergence as an energy and petrochemical hub. Industries like cotton, lumber, shipping, and manufacturing thrived. NASA's Johnson Space Center further solidified the county's significance in space exploration and technology.
Harris County's demographic diversity is a defining aspect, attracting immigrants from various backgrounds. Houston became a cosmopolitan city with a vibrant culinary scene, dynamic arts community, and diverse festivals, reflecting its multicultural fabric.
Today, Harris County remains an influential economic and cultural center. Its strong economy spans energy, healthcare, technology, and international trade. The county houses renowned medical facilities and research institutions. Despite facing natural disasters, Harris County showcases resilience and implements measures to mitigate their impact.
With its rich history, economic vitality, multiculturalism, and ongoing growth, Harris County continues to shape Texas as a thriving hub of commerce, culture, and innovation.
Harris County Timeline
This timeline provides a concise overview of the key events in the history of Harris County, Texas.
Pre-19th Century: The region was inhabited by various Native American tribes, including the Karankawa and Atakapa.
1822: Harrisburg, the county's first settlement, is founded by John Richardson Harris, a pioneer and one of the early Texas colonists.
1836: The Battle of San Jacinto, which secured Texas independence from Mexico, took place in present-day Harris County.
1837: Harris County is officially established and named after John Richardson Harris.
19th Century: Houston, the county seat and the largest city in Texas, experiences rapid growth due to its strategic location along Buffalo Bayou and the construction of railroads. The city becomes a major commercial and shipping hub, attracting industries such as cotton, lumber, and oil.
20th Century: The discovery of oil in the nearby Spindletop field and the subsequent growth of the oil industry greatly contribute to Harris County's economic development. Houston becomes an energy and petrochemical center.
1960s-1980s: The space industry plays a crucial role in Harris County's history with the establishment of NASA's Johnson Space Center, where mission control for the Apollo program is located.
Today: Harris County continues to be a thriving economic and cultural center. It is home to a diverse population, numerous industries, world-class medical facilities, and renowned cultural institutions.