DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, if you want to talk about buildings that carry their history right there on their face — corner turret reaching up three stories, Eastlake decoration carved into every cornice — the Sweeney, Coombs and Fredericks Building in Harris County is exactly that kind of place. Designed by George E.
Dickey in 1889, it is as late-Victorian as a building gets, the kind of structure that makes you stop on the sidewalk and just look up. But here's where the story gets interesting — and I do love when a building has a secret. Evidence indicates that what Dickey drew up in 1889 may not have been a brand-new building at all.
It may have been a renovation. Underneath all that Victorian finery, there could be bones going all the way back to 1861 — a structure originally built by one William A. Van Alstyne.
Now that's a foundation with some age on it. The building then passed hands, purchased in 1882 by John Jasper Sweeney and Edward L. Coombs, who ran their jewelry firm out of this address.
And sometime before 1889 — before Dickey ever put pencil to paper — a man named Gus Fredericks joined the Sweeney and Coombs Jewelry firm, and earned himself a place right there in the name above the door. Three stories. A turret on the corner.
And layers of history going back further than the eye can see. That's the kind of building that keeps its secrets well.
What the marker says
This late-Victorian commercial building with a 3-story corner turret and Eastlake decorative elements was designed by George E. Dickey in 1889. Evidence indicates that the 1889 construction may have been a renovation of an 1861 structure built by William A. Van Alstyne and purchased in 1882 by John Jasper Sweeney and Edward L. Coombs. Gus Fredericks joined the Sweeney and Coombs Jewelry firm before 1889. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1974