National Register of Historic Places

Mills Building

El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Listed
March 21, 2011
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
11000130

About this property

The Anson Mills Building is a historic building located at 303 North Oregon Street in El Paso, Texas. The building stands on the original site of the 1832 Ponce de León ranch. Anson Mills hired Henry C. Trost of the Trost and Trost architectural firm to design and construct the building. Trost was the area's foremost pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete. Built in 1910–1911, the building was only the second concrete-frame skyscraper in the United States, and one of the largest all-concrete buildings. At 145 feet (44 m), the 12-story Mills Building was the tallest building in El Paso when completed. The architectural firm of Trost and Trost moved its offices to the building upon completion, where they remained until 1920. The Mills family sold the building in 1965. The building stands on a corner site opposite San Jacinto Plaza, with a gracefully curved street facade that wraps around the south and east sides. Like many of Trost's designs, the Anson Mills Building's overall form and strong verticality, as well as details of the ornamentation and cornice, are reminiscent of the Chicago School work of Louis Sullivan. In 1974, the Mills Building's windows were replaced with vertical bands of mirrored glass, radically altering its appearance. The Mills Building was designated as a Texas Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1981.

Location

303 N Oregon St
El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
31.76093, -106.48941

Categories

ARCHITECTURECOMMUNITY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENTENGINEERING
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Native Heritage
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Nearby Historic Sites

Hotel Cortez
Industrial
0.1 mi
U.S. Post Office
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0.1 mi
White House Department Store and Hotel McCoy
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Plaza Theatre
Industrial
0.1 mi
Roberts-Banner Building
Industrial
0.1 mi

Questions about this property

When was Mills Building listed on the National Register?

Mills Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 21, 2011.

What type of historic resource is Mills Building?

Mills Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Mills Building?

The period of significance for Mills Building is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Mills Building?

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