DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, San Antonio has seen its share of buildings come and go — whole blocks swallowed by time, by fire, by the wrecking ball. But every now and then, something holds on.
Something stands its ground. The Stevens Building is one of those. The marker calls it one of the finest remaining structures in San Antonio's late nineteenth-century commercial district, and once you know who built it, that tracks completely.
The architect was James Riely Gordon — born 1864, died 1937 — and the man had a way with stone. He designed this building in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, that heavy, serious, round-arched look that seems to say the building has been here forever and intends to stay. It was completed in 1891, which means it's been standin' through every boom and bust this city has ever cooked up.
Now, what went on inside is where it gets interesting. The first floor, over the years, housed dry goods and furniture stores — the everyday commerce of a growing city, folks coming in, hauling out chairs and bolts of fabric, the ordinary business of life. But head upstairs, and the story changes register entirely.
The second story served for a time as the headquarters of the city's scientific society. Think about that — somewhere above the furniture and the dry goods, men were gathering to talk about the nature of things. And sharing that second floor, or holding it at another point in time, was the real estate office of John Stevens himself — the man who owned the building all the way until the 1930s.
His name on the door, his building underneath him, his city spreading out the window. The Stevens Building. Still standing.
That's the whole point.
What the marker says
One of the finest remaining structures in San Antonio's late 19th-century commercial district, this building was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by James Riely Gordon (1864-1937) and was completed in 1891. Over the years the first floor has housed dry goods and furniture stores. The second story served for a time as the headquarters of the city's scientific society and as the real estate office of John Stevens, who owned the building until the 1930s.