One of my favorite buildings in downtown El Paso, Texas is the abandoned “Kress Building”. When I first walked downtown, I was struck by its detailed ornamentation–but I was also struck by its neglect.
The Kress Company was a “five and dime” business, much like the Woolworth Company of the late 1800 through the mid-1900s. This building was built in 1937, the third Kress building in El Paso.
The historical narrative describes the details of the building:
“At the request of the Women’s Department of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce, Sibbert designed the El Paso Kress store with regional architecture in mind. Native American architecture of the Southwest is suggested in the stalks of desert plants decorating the doors leading to each balcony on Mills Street, Mayan motifs, sculptures resembling primitive masks, and the Indian motif ironwork on the balcony…The bell tower reflects the Anglo, Indian, Spanish, and Mexican cultures of El Paso: the tower itself echoes the tower on the Federal Building that had been at the location; the shape of the tower and its carillon suggest the Socorro Mission; the colorful latticed walls, buff-colored blocks, and finials imitate the towers of mosques in Muslim Spain; and the honeycomb latticework is reminiscent of the walls of a Mayan temple...Sibbert also designed a tower that functioned as a carillon and was wired for both chimes and lighting. A tower that played music was a one-time phenomenon in Kress’s building history.”
This Kress store operated until 1980 when the Kress Company fell into bankruptcy. Now, there are rumors that the city of El Paso is trying to purchase the building to renovate and re-purpose the old building. For me, it would be a dream come true to see the store turned into a downtown department store, full of life and activity. I can only dream, now, of walking through the chained doors and walking where many other visitors walked.
[…] 5. Kress Building in El Paso […]