Singer Building

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Singer Building in El Paso. Now, not every building on a Texas street corner has a story worth slowing down for — but every now and then, you pass something that's been quietly holding its ground for nearly a century, and this is one of those. Completed in 1928 for the Singer company, this Spanish colonial revival structure was the work of Henry Trost, a noted El Paso architect who clearly understood that a building ought to earn its place on the skyline.

Reinforced concrete, a corner tower capped with red tile, iron grillwork curling just so — and up above the eastern window on the second story, the Singer crest, keeping watch like it always has. Now think about what was happening inside those walls for more than fifty years. Down on the ground floor, Singer's Retail Store doing its steady business.

And up on the second story — a school for seamstresses. Generation after generation of women learning their craft just one floor above the machines they'd one day master. That corner tower has seen it all and given nothing away.

Henry Trost built it to last, and last it did.

What the marker says

Completed in 1928 for the Singer company, this Spanish colonial revival style structure was designed by noted El Paso architect Henry Trost. For more than 50 years the ground floor served as Singer's Retail Store, while the second story was occupied by a school for seamstresses. Constructed of reinforced concrete, the building features a corner tower with red tile roof, iron grillwork, and the Singer crest above the eastern upper-story window. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983