814 Main St. – Houston TX (built 1909; remodeled 1950; demolished August 2005; also San Jacinto Hotel, San Jacinto Building)

 

In 1950 the Bender Hotel was remodeled and had a 12-story annex added, plans by Kenneth Franzheim. The basement was home to a cafeteria designed by Raymond Brogniez. The building’s main tenants were Walgreens and May’s Department Store (with interiors by Brochstein’s). An article about the remodel in Houston Magazine described the original Bender Hotel as “designed in gaudy mid-Victorian style.”

 

The only remnants of the building were the reversed image of its name on the neighboring Battelstein’s Building – the Walker @ Main Parking Garage was built on the site.

 

From Houston Magazine, September 1950:

 

 

c. 1918

 

c. 1920

 

c. 1931