DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now settle in, because this one's got cotton, clubs, and a saloon in the basement — which is exactly where a saloon ought to be. We're talking about the Houston Cotton Exchange and Board of Trade.
Founded in 1874, right in the thick of an expanding cotton market that was hungry for a place to do serious business. Houston was ready to oblige. The Exchange got itself organized, and then — a full decade later — somebody decided it was time to build something worthy of all that commerce.
So in 1884 and 1885, contractors Max Kosse and James S. Lucas raised up a Victorian renaissance revival edifice designed by one Eugene T. Heiner.
Now, that's a mouthful of a building description, but what it means is this place had presence. When you walked past it on the street, you knew something important happened inside. And it did.
The second and third floors held the exchange room and its galleries — that's where the real action was, where cotton fortunes were made and occasionally unmade with the speed of a summer storm. The first floor? Offices, sure, but also the exclusive Houston Club.
Exclusive. They made sure you knew that. And then, if you went the other direction — down the stairs, into the basement — you'd find a plush saloon.
Not a rough-and-tumble kind of place. Plush. Somebody spent money down there, and I suspect it was well spent.
The building rolled along like that for years, until 1907, when the whole structure got remodeled and a fourth floor was added on top — because apparently three floors of cotton trading, exclusive clubbing, and basement lounging wasn't quite enough. Then 1924 came around, and the exchange vacated the premises. Just like that, the cotton men were gone.
The building stood there holding its history, a Victorian renaissance revival pile with a fourth floor it earned and a basement nobody forgot. It took until 1973 for someone to restore the place to its former self. And now you're driving past the legacy of Max Kosse, James S.
Lucas, Eugene T. Heiner, and whoever had the good sense to put a plush saloon in that basement — right where it belonged.
What the marker says
Founded in 1874 to facilitate trade in the expanding cotton market. This Victorian renaissance revival edifice, designed by Eugene T. Heiner, was built in 1884-85 by contractors Max Kosse and James S. Lucas. The exchange room and galleries were situated on the second and third floors, and the first floor contained offices and the exclusive "Houston Club." The basement housed a plush saloon. The structure was remodeled and the fourth floor added in 1907. The exchange vacated the premises in 1924. The building was restored in 1973. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1974