The Wilson Building is a historic 8-story building in the Main Street district of

downtown Dallas Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. The building was completed in 1904 and patterned after the

Palais Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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.Dallas Public Library
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Retrieved on October 13, 2006. The historic structure fronts Main Street on the south, Ervay Street on the east, and Elm Street on the north. The Wilson building was the tallest structure in Dallas from 1904–1909 and was considered the premier commercial structure west of the

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. The Wilson Building is situated across from the flagship

Neiman Marcus Building The Neiman Marcus Building is a department store located in the Main Street District in downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. It was designed by George Dahl for Herbert Marcus, Abraham Lincoln Neiman, and Carrie Marcus Neiman, and opened in ...

and is adjacent to the

Mercantile National Bank Building The Mercantile National Bank Building (known colloquially as The Merc) is a 31-story, skyscraper at 1800 Main Street in the Main Street district of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the former home of the Mercantile National Bank, which later bec ...

History

The building was built for John B. Wilson (1847–1920), who moved from Canada to Dallas with his brother Frederick P. Wilson, and together made their fortune in cattle during the 19th century. Designed by Sanguinet & Staats of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, the plan of the building is E-shaped with rounded corners featuring intricate stone and brick work. The building contained 9 elevators: 2 for the department store and 7 for office tenants. Among its many luxuries, it was connected to a 1,500 ft deep artesian well and contained 2 telegraph offices. The structure originally housed the Titche-Goettinger Department Store (later known as Titche's) in the basement and first two levels; the upper levels housed offices accessed through a lobby on Main Street. Prior to the building's opening, most of Dallas retail traffic was centered several blocks to the west. The success of the Wilson Building and Titche-Goettinger convinced

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

to build their

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

across Main Street and forever changed the city's retailing history.

Expansion

In 1911, a 12-story addition was completed along Elm Street, generally matching the style of the original building. This structure was used by Titche-Goettinger and was said to be the tallest building in the South occupied exclusively by a retail establishment. Titche-Goettinger remained the largest tenant until 1929, when it moved to the larger

Titche-Goettinger Building Titche-Goettinger (later known as Titche's) was a department store chain based in Dallas, Texas (United States). It was established in 1902 and was a major player in the Dallas retail market until its merger with Joske's, which was later absorbe ...

two blocks east. The Wilson building's office space was renovated to provide accommodations for medical offices, an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

was constructed to connect Elm Street and Main Street entrances. The W.A. Green department store moved into the tower space formerly occupied by Titche-Goettinger, while the H.L. Green Variety Store moved into the lower floors of the main building. When W.A. Green moved out in 1961, H.L. Green took over that space as well. The store became a fixture in downtown Dallas for several decades, and its lunch counter was the city's first to be integrated during the 1960s. As the offices vacated for newer buildings the upper levels of the building became vacant and the outside was notoriously grimy, although the building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979. In 1997 H.L. Green closed its doors after nearly 70 years of operating from the Wilson Building.

Adaptive Reuse

The building was owned by actress

Pia Zadora Pia Zadora (born Pia Alfreda Schipani; May 4, 1954) is an American actress and singer. She debuted as a child actress on Broadway, in regional theater, and in the film ''Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'' (1964). She came to national attention i ...

for several years. The store's closure resulted in a redevelopment opportunity, and the City of Dallas acquired the building for $3.4 million (~$ in ) in 1999. Post Properties then leased the building from the city and converted the historic structure into 143 loft apartments, featuring hardwood floors and a rooftop sky terrace. The property was sold to

Forest City Enterprises Forest City Realty Trust, Inc., formerly Forest City Enterprises, was a real estate investment trust that invested in office buildings, shopping centers and apartments in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and the great ...

in 2008 to become part of the Mercantile Place on Main development, and residents share building amenities in the neighboring Mercantile Bank Building. Forest City followed through with their promise to spend "a little money" and deferred significant amounts of maintenance costs (which they passed to

Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of Commercial property, commercial real estate firm Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of Alternative investment, alternative asset management company Brookfield Corpor ...

in 2018 when the property was again sold).

Gallery

File:Wilson Building.jpg, A c. 1910 postcard of the Wilson Building File:Wilson Building 2.jpg, A c. 1918 postcard of the Wilson Building File:John B. Wilson.jpg, The Wilson Building was constructed for John B. Wilson

References

External links