Once one of the tallest buildings in El Paso, the O.T. Bassett Tower is a beautiful reminder of the glory days of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
I drove through downtown El Paso Sunday and found a parking space right next to the Bassett Tower. This was an easy task because there are no cars near this building on Sunday afternoon, and not very many cars parked during the week. The tower sits empty. Thankfully, the building sits empty as it awaits remodeling to become an ALOFT hotel. (El Paso Times).
The Bassett tower was “built by prominent El Paso businessman Charles Bassett in honor of his father, O.T. Bassett” and “was one of the last buildings designed in El Paso by famed architecture firm Trost & Trost, which designed a number of buildings in Downtown El Paso.” (El Paso Times)
As I walked around the corner from my parking sport, I was immediately struck by the entrance to the building. The front doors famed by ornately designed marble with embedded designs. One prominent feature that I wasn’t able to get an adequate photo of are the designs of faces evident in the highest ornamentations of the door frame. These faces are believed by those of the architect, Henry Trost, himself (Wikipedia)
As I looked up at the tower, I seemed to truly touch the sky. The point of view made me pause for a moment at the grander of this building and buildings like it. There was once a time that this building was a part of a busy work day and there were those who were privileged to work there through the Second World War and through the sixties when the other high rises were being built to replace these aging buildings.
Now, the O.T. Bassett Tower seems dwarfed by the Well Fargo Building nearby. The tower maintains its dignity on the skyline. I am happy that I was able to visit this building during its lonely years, and I look forward to seeing the new life that is brought to this building in the future.
[…] the Hill.” The building was designed by Trost and Trost, the same architectural firm of the O.T. Bassett Building and the Plaza Hotel. For this building Trost and Trost chose a Neo-Classicism structure. “The […]