Combs-Worley Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, picture Pampa, Texas, in the early 1930s. The oil boom has arrived, and it has arrived loud.

Money is moving fast, and the people who had it wanted everyone to know it. Enter the Combs-Worley Building, erected in 1931 to house the offices of the Combs-Worley ranching and oil interests, along with a healthy collection of Pampa professions and businesses. This wasn't just a place to hang your hat and sign your papers.

This was a statement. The architects behind that statement were W. R.

Kaufman and Son, out of Amarillo. And if that name sounds familiar around Pampa, well, it should. These were busy people.

They'd already given the city the county courthouse in 1929, then came back the very next year and handed over city hall and the central fire station, both in 1930. Three landmark buildings in two years. The Combs-Worley Building in 1931 made four.

Together, all of them sit along what folks call Pampa's million dollar row. Now, when Kaufman and Son designed this one, they reached for something modern. Art deco architectural influences show up on the edifice in what the marker calls typical classical rhythm and form.

Metal casement windows, storefront details, all of it working together to express the spirit of the 1930s and that new wealth rolling in from the oil boom. It's the kind of building that tells you, without saying a single word, that something significant happened here. The boom came, the money moved, and Kaufman and Son were right there to build the proof.

What the marker says

Designed by Amarillo architects W. R. Kaufman & Son, this structure was erected in 1931 to house the offices of the Combs-Worley ranching and oil interests and Pampa professions and businesses. Modern art deco architectural influences appear on the edifice in typical classical rhythm and form. Metal casement windows and storefront details further enhance the building's expression of the 1930s and the new wealth of the oil boom era. The Kaufman's other Pampa projects include the county courthouse (1929), city hall and central fire station (both 1930). All are part of Pampa's "million dollar row." Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1998