The Hogg Building was known as the Armor Building during the design process[2] and the Great Southern Building when it opened in March 1921.[3] Charles Erwin Barglebaugh and Lloyd R. Whitson of El Paso designed the eight-story, Sullivan-inspired building. The ground floor was used as a showroom for automobiles, while the other stories were dedicated to office space. It was constructed of concrete with reinforced steel, thus eliminating the need for a large number of piers. The building is also characterized by a great number of windows, covering much of the outer facing. Ornamentation marks the tops of the seventh and first floors.[2]
Will Hogg, the eldest son of former Texas Governor Jim Hogg, used the eighth-floor penthouse to manage Hogg Brothers Company and the family's philanthropic projects.[3][4] In the 1920s, Hogg's workspace was, "surrounded by a roof garden lavishly abloom with shrubs and flowers, in a suite of elegantly furnished rooms that included an oval dining room, a kitchen, a living room, and a guest bedroom as well as offices."[4] He decorated the penthouse with his collection of artwork by Frederic Remington.[4][5] The Hogg family used the penthouse as a business office until 1941.[3]
In the early 1990s, developer Randall Davis converted the retail and office building into seventy-nine loft apartments.[6] Davis opened the refurbished building as the Hogg Palace Lofts in the fall of 1995, and it was already fully leased by the end of that year.[7]
Arthur Lefevre, Jr., "HOGG, WILLIAM CLIFFORD," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fho20), accessed November 26, 2014. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
