Settegast Estate Building
242-256 W. Gray Ave.

The Houston Independent School District has saved the Settegast Estate Building at 242-256 W. Gray Avenue by renovating it to serve as the art annex for Carnegie Vanguard High School. When the renovation is completed, the structure will include a 130-seat theatre, art room and photo lab.

The building, designed by the Moore and Lloyd architectural firm in 1938, features streamlined Art Deco detailing and oversize porthole windows. Its fluted, stepped turret is visible from Montrose Boulevard and marks the pivot point where W. Gray enters historic Freedmen’s Town. The building originally held neighborhood service shops. It later was home to Houston’s Orange Crush bottling plant which remained there until the early 1950s.

Jules J. Settegast, a member of the Houston Parks Commission and the executor of the Hermann Estate which planned and erected Hermann Hospital in the 1920s, owned considerable property in the city, including 75 acres given by the Settegast Estate to the University of Houston as part of its original campus. The Settegast Estate Building, vacant for a number of years, was slated at one time to be razed for a parking lot. In 1994 the property was rehabbed to return it to its retailing roots with eight store fronts that could be used for shops or restaurants.

The commercial redevelopment stalled, however, and in 2001-2002 HISD took the property by eminent domain. Plans lagged for several years and reports were widespread that the building would be demolished.  But today the story is a much more positive one. The HISD Trustees are to be commended for saving this distinctive building and using it in a significant way to educate our youth.

Sears Roebuck & Co.
4200 Main St.

November 16, 1939 was a red-letter day for Houston shoppers. Thousands gathered at the corner of Main and Wheeler for the opening of a new Sears Roebuck & Co. store. Although Sears had been a fixture on Houston’s retail scene since 1928, this addition south of the downtown shopping district was to be the city’s largest department store and would boast heretofore unknown amenities.

The three-story building was designed as an Art Deco prototype by the Chicago firm of Nimmons, Carr and Wright with Alfred C. Finn as the local associate architect. The reinforced concrete structure had a projecting base that incorporated store windows surrounded by granite cladding. The upper floors, faced in stucco, featured triple vertical glass block accents, and the roof parapet was articulated by a simple “pie crust” crenellation, according to architect Barry Moore in a 2006 Cite magazine article. The mezzanine roof was utilized for special promotional displays or Christmas decorations. On the interior walls of the main floor, artist Eugene Montgomery created a series of heroic murals depicting Texas history from the time of the Spanish to modern days. The flagship store had air-conditioning (a rarity at the time), the city’s first escalator (capable of carrying 6,000 people per hour) and a lighted parking lot for 600 cars. Just across Fannin Street was the city’s largest service station with 16 gas pumps and 12 mechanics’ stalls. An instant success, Sears introduced a new trend in suburban shopping.

Sadly, this once-distinctive store is unrecognizable today. For whatever reason—perhaps for added security or in the name of “modernization”—in the 1960s the store’s display windows were bricked up and the upper levels were covered with beige metal siding. Even the interior did not escape the massive make-over when the historic murals were removed. The building’s future has been uncertain for years. Reports have frequently predicted the store’s closing and questioned the future of the building itself. Its existence continues to be threatened in spite of the gem underneath the current fortress-like exterior.

The Young Men's Christian Association Building (YMCA)
1600 Louisiana St.

For over 70 years the downtown YMCA building opened its doors to generations of Houstonians. Today the site at Louisiana and Pease holds the demolished remains of this once popular destination. Houston’s Young Men’s Christian Association has an even longer history, having been established in 1886.

After occupying rented quarters for two decades, the organization erected its first building at Fannin and McKinney. This five-story structure remained the YMCA’s principal home until the expansion of its programming required a larger facility. Thus, in 1941 the “Y” relocated to 1600 Louisiana, an address then on the outskirts of downtown.

Prominent architect Kenneth Franzheim designed a ten-story Italian Renaissance building in the architectural style popular among YMCAs across the country. Featuring interior rock walls and painted-beam ceilings, the facility had a dormitory for 270 men, an assembly hall, nineteen classrooms, two gyms, six handball courts, an indoor pool and multiple exercise areas. Educational programming was an important component of the YMCA’s mission. 

The South Texas College of Law, established by the “Y” in 1923, was located in the building at 1600 Louisiana until 1967 when it became a privately operated law school, a status it retains today at its location on San Jacinto Street. In 1948 the YMCA founded South Texas Junior College, which became the largest private two-year college in Texas. Like the law school, it, too, became an independent college in 1967 and relocated from 1600 Louisiana to the M & M Building at the foot of Main Street. Although branch YMCAs began to spring up all over the city, the Downtown Y remained an anchor in the lives of many—workers needing safe, inexpensive housing; downtown employees seeking a healthier lifestyle through fitness programs; young people learning good citizenship by participating in character building projects.

Millions of Houstonians, undoubtedly, passed through the doors of this landmark during its seven decades of existence. In 2010, however, the doors closed when a new facility was built nearby, although it will not continue to provide affordable housing as in the past. In spite of a public outcry, the grand old building was razed and rehabbing the structure for a new use was not pursued.

Today 1600 Louisiana is just a memory, but what rich memories they are for those whose lives intersected with the “Y” for decades.