The Scarbrough Building is a historic commercial building in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. Located on the corner of Congress Avenue and Sixth Street, the Chicago-style building was originally home to the flagship E.M. Scarbrough & Sons department store. The building was the first steel-framed high-rise in Austin. In 1931, a renovation introduced

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

elements to the building; the renovation also made Scarbrough's the first retailer to have

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

(“manufactured weather”) west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. The building was named a

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (RTHL) is a designation awarded by the Texas Historical Commission for historically and architecturally significant properties in the U.S. state of Texas. RTHL is a legal designation and the highest honor the sta ...

in 2001.12733
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History

The building was originally built starting in 1908 by Emerson Monroe Scarbrough, Sr., a former

Confederate soldier The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

, to house the flagship location for E.M. Scarbrough & Sons department store, which was known as Scarbrough's by locals. The store originally opened in 1874 in

Rockdale, Texas Rockdale is a city in Milam County, Texas, United States. Its population was 5,323 at the 2020 census. It is about 41 miles west of College Station. History In 1873, the town developed as the International-Great Northern Railroad ...

under the name Scarbrough & Hicks. In 1893 Scarbrough left R.H. Hicks in charge of the store and moved with his family to Austin, expanding the business to a new location in the Kreisle Building at the 400 block of

Congress Avenue Congress Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Austin, Texas. The street is a six-lane, tree lined avenue that cuts through the middle of the city from far south Austin and goes over Lady Bird Lake leading to the Texas State Capitol in the heart of ...

. In 1905, Scarbrough hired architects

Sanguinet & Staats Sanguinet & Staats was an architectural firm based in Fort Worth, Texas, with as many as five branch offices in Texas. The firm specialized in steel-frame construction and built many skyscrapers in Texas. The firm also accepted commissions for res ...

to design a new building for the department store. When the new building was completed in 1909, it was the tallest in the state, but

George W. Littlefield George Washington Littlefield (June 21, 1842 – November 10, 1920) was a Confederate Army officer, cattleman, banker, and regent of the University of Texas. Born in Mississippi, Littlefield moved to Texas with his family when he was a ...

added a ninth story to his new building to steal the title a year later. In an era where goods were bargained, Scarbrough's was a pioneer in

price tag A price tag is a label declaring the price of an item for sale. It may be a sticker or attached by twist tie or other means. Some jurisdictions require items (possibly exceptions for bulk good and produce) to be individually marked with the pri ...

ging every item in the store. E.M. Scarbrough bought out and renamed the business with his sons, J. William and Lemuel Scarbrough, in 1913. In 1931, the Scarbrough sons hired architects

Wyatt C. Hedrick Wyatt Cephus Hedrick (December 17, 1888 in Chatham, Virginia, Chatham, Virginia – May 5, 1964 in Houston, Texas) was an American architect, engineer, and Real estate development, developer most active in Texas and the American South. He began ...

and Edwin C. Kreisle for a renovation of the building. The Scarbrough Building was completely remodeled in an Art Deco facade, with shop windows widened from 6 ft. (2 m). In its heyday, the department store occupied 95,000 sq. ft. (8,800 m²) spanning three stories, including 10 departments on the ground floor alone. Growth after World War II would redefine shopping habits among the city's new residents. In the 1970s, a branch store was opened at

Highland Mall Highland Mall was a shopping mall located in north Austin, Texas, United States, on Airport Boulevard west of I-35 and north of US Route 290. Opened in 1971, Highland Mall was Austin's first suburban shopping mall. Highland Mall was jointly owned ...

. In 1981, a Scarbrough's store opened as an anchor at

Barton Creek Square Barton Creek Square is an enclosed shopping mall located in southwest Austin, Texas in the United States, near the intersection of Texas State Highway Loop 1 and Texas State Highway Loop 360. The mall is eponymously named after Barton Creek, Texas ...

. The struggling downtown store closed its doors in 1982 after dismal

Christmas season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late Novembe ...

sales. The last remaining Scarbrough's store, located on North Lamar Boulevard, closed its doors in December 2009. After Scarbrough's department store closed, the building's ground floor and basement were home to numerous retail stores, including

Brooks Brothers Brooks Brothers, founded in Manhattan, New York, in 1818, is the oldest apparel brand in continuous operation in America. Originally a family business, Brooks Brothers produces clothing for men, women and children, as well as home furnishings. B ...

and

Gold's Gym Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of cardio and strength training equipm ...

. In 2019, it was announced that Punch Bowl Social, an entertainment venue, signed a lease for the ground floor and basement level of the building.

Gallery

File:Halloween21OneAmericanCenter.JPG, Bird's eye view of the Scarbrough Building in 2007 File:ScarboroughBldg-2010-08-b.JPG, Sixth Street entrance File:ScarboroughBldg-2010-07-a.JPG, Close-up view of Art Deco ornamentation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:E.M. Scarbrough and Sons Buildings and structures in Austin, Texas Defunct department stores based in Texas Sanguinet & Staats buildings Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks Chicago school architecture in Texas Art Deco architecture in Texas