By Cynthia M. Chavez
El Paso hosts several architectural styles throughout the area, each adding its own flavor of beauty and playing its part in the development of the city we know today, and it seems downtown is the epicenter of it all. While no single architectural style dominates the El Paso landscape, some styles shine more than others. Art Deco architecture is one such style, that, while limited in its presence in the city, certainly makes a statement. Two buildings that immediately come to mind are the O.T. Bassett Tower and El Teatro Colón or the Colón Theater. Henry C. Trost’s, Percy W. McGhee’s and Otto H. Thorman’s vision for these two buildings is certainly to be envied, but a brief trip through history helps understand the basis for the work of these three architectural giants.
By imprinting its stylized footprint globally, France organized the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, a landmark exhibition that gave rise to a new international style and, ultimately, provided its name, Art Deco. From April to October 1925, the convention exemplified the artistry of jewelers, carpenters, glass makers and architects. Styles exhibited rose in popularity, coining the term “Moderne,” at least until the 1960s, when “Art Deco” became its new name. Before ascension into worldly recognition, Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Aztec art inspired Moderne styles and architecture. Geometric forms of Cubism and De Stijl added further depth.
Our world became smaller with the invention of electricity, and people traveled more frequently and moved away for work. The increasing need for larger city centers with ample job opportunities became streamlined. France set style trends, and America quickly followed suit. Commercial and residential buildings stood with the stars, theaters displayed a spunky contemporary style for the time compared to their Victorian predecessors, and architects possessed an entirely new pallet of colors for their steel paintbrushes.
Image caption: Charles N. Bassett (Courtesy of Fred Morales Archives)
Opulence in antiquity is the essence of the Art Deco style, allowing for the fusion of Hollywood extravagance and ancient spiritual practice. The Art Deco design is reminiscent of ancient petroglyphs, structures and pottery styles. The discovery and excavation of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 raised eyebrows, and hieroglyphic motifs proliferated across the globe. Imitations of lotus flowers and tropical palms found their way onto glass and elevator designs, a favored design choice. Two-dimensional representations of birds graced clothing and jewelry. Sandcolored backgrounds and Egyptian temple-inspired art pieces emphasized the richness of design.
African influences propagated Art Deco architecture, lending their traditional tribal textile and carpentry designs. Liner and grid patterns popped vibrantly in color, and brighter patterns became widely favored with the invention of manufactured textiles, such as nylon. Trendy and sensual, exotic woods were often used in furniture to amplify the complexity of rich colors enhancing a room.
Paris’ obsession with African American dancer Josephine Baker in 1925 and her exotic costumes and performances prompted the use of abstract, erotic art, such as in lamp figurines made to mimic her wearing a banana skirt, often worn during performances.
Mesoamerican ziggurats, better known as stepped pyramids, are the leading design choice in most Moderne architecture. Skyscrapers often have terracing floors to create tower shapes leading to a building’s spire, a technique also present in lighting fixtures that vertically extend a space. Aztec abstract three-dimensional designs often depict faces and events, used in carved stone to exaggerate Art Deco-inspired entrances.
De Stijl is another concept of New Age and Utopian art, named after the journal De Stijl, developed by Theo Van Doesburg, a Dutch artist who practiced painting, writing, poetry, and architecture. Van Doesburg is best known as the founder and leader of the De Stijl Movement, also known as Neoplasticism, a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden, a province of South Holland, consisting of artists and architects. Influenced by global industrialization, De Stijl’s architecture is aerodynamic and geometric. Continuous repetitive patterning, bottlenecking, and its mechanical appearance depict machinery progression during the early 20th century. This art form, derived from ancient civilizations and global futuristic aesthetics, homogenizes them. Universal consonance is a characteristic of this style, with Cubism playing its part in De Stijl and Art Deco design. Cubist interpretations quickly fell out of fashion after World War I but lingered amongst its successors, with life conceptualized through basic geometric shapes. Although only two-dimensional, the usage of light and dark creates depth, with distinct, sharp edges allowing shaping. In his self-portraits painted in his later years, Picasso applied this technique. This style allowed artists to display a moment from all angles and represent various concepts simultaneously.
The O.T. Bassett Tower initiated a new age for El Paso architecture. The tower was built as an office space for local doctors wanting to give their patients the best care and experience. The building has served various purposes throughout the years and now offers upscale lodging. In 2018, the Bassett Tower reopened as Aloft Hotel, a modern boutique style hotel. Its historical and artistic background attracts visitors from all around the country.
The O.T. Bassett Tower, or simply the Bassett Tower, an Art Deco skyscraper located at 303 Texas Avenue in Downtown El Paso, Texas, made the city worthy of recognition on a national stage. Moderne architecture had become a symbol of modernity internationally across the country. After World War I, a new era ushered itself in, pushing against Victorian Era influence and mentality. Economies progressed, and middle-class Americana flourished. At the time of completion in 1930, the Bassett Tower briefly stood as El Paso’s tallest building, to be outsized later that same year by the Hilton Hotel, renamed the Plaza Hotel in 1963. The Bassett Tower’s architectural magnificence was one of Trost’s final commissions to the El Paso skyline, still standing at 15 stories today.
Image caption: O.T. Bassett Tower (Courtesy of Mark Stone, The El Paso Sketch Club)
Land rights to the downtown plot originally belonged to the Bassett family estate, established in the 19th century by Oscar T. Bassett, who arrived in El Paso in 1880 to buy real estate for the Texas and Pacific Railway but left for Indiana to tend to the birth of his son, Charles Nebeker Bassett, in 1880. After Oscar’s wife, Myrtle, died shortly after childbirth, he returned to El Paso and became a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of El Paso, later recognized as the State National Bank. He was also president of the El Paso School Board in 1882 and served on the El Paso City Council. Oscar died when Charles was only 18 but lived on through his son’s work and accomplishments.
Oscar’s son, Charles, built the Bassett Tower, naming it after his father. Charles inherited his father’s work and commemorated him with the spectacular memorialization of the newly-erected skyscraper.
El Paso physicians requested the construction and use of the edifice, set initially to accommodate doctors’ offices. The plans consisted of a thirteen-story building with design changes requiring approval by a planning committee of doctors. The Bassett Tower’s ground floor was to conform to the building site’s perimeter with additional floors centered, terracing upwards. Eight floors would project upwards, with a 10th floor set back and the 12th and 13th floors ascending into a tower design.
Dimensions and the modernistic style mimicked layouts of buildings in other parts of the country, such as the Fisher Building in Detroit and Carew Tower in Cincinnati. The Trost & Trost Architectural Firm took responsibility for its creativity, with Henry C. Trost as its design head. Trost had never designed Moderne architecture, making the Bassett Tower his Modernistic debut.
Contract bidding took place in July 1929 for a 13- and 15-story structure. The winning bid went to Robert McKee and R.E. McKee Construction Co., and the ground broke on August 1 of that year. Budgeting was an estimated $500,000, and if two additional floors were to be added, the figure would inflate by an additional $50,000. Construction comprised 320 tons of steel and 250,000 bricks. Ten stone eagles and gargoyles sat on the top of the building. The building was to have 520 windows and 137 offices. The main lobby floors were marble, while the rest of the corridors and offices were battleship grey linoleum. Nine stores would be located on the first floor and two elevators. The Bassett Tower, at 15 stories, is 215 feet tall, with setbacks at the 10th and 13 floors.
After completion in 1930, a permit for $6,000 was taken to install a Turkish bath, and a Doctor Connor paid for a two-floor addition. In January of 1931, the Bassett Tower was featured in an issue of The American Architect in an article titled “What Architects are Talking About.”
The Bassett Tower is designed on all sides, atypical for when construction occurred. The west and east faces of the building showcase eight rows of windows that ascend to the 13th floor. Since the building is not made of glass, Art Deco uses windows aligned in distinct columns and rows to create an illusion of a taller, slimmer structure that connects the viewer’s eyes to the sky. The Bassett Tower architects stacked windows in neat rows, elongating the tower’s presence and making the windows impossible to miss. Cubism drew attention to specific details on large structures, as evidenced in the Bassett Tower. Different materials used for angular design add depth and complexity to a conventional brick building. Rectangular granite stones separate each window on the uppermost five floors. Lowrelief terra cotta trimmings along the 10th floor are in parallel rows and rounded at their ends. Granite separates the ninthfloor windows with centered, threedimensional terra cotta feminine facial protrusions. At night, low-relief lighting illuminates the building, complementing its enormous stature. Structures of this era used reinforced concrete for structural support to establish longevity, as was the case with the Bassett Tower. The trimming contains granite, limestone, terra cotta, marble, and cast stone. The Bassett Tower adds grace and artistry to El Paso’s skyline, giving it a timeless ambiance.
Gazing upon the Bassett Tower entrance, the experience is nothing short of magnificent. Protruding limestone grid patterning and intersections of liner stone are adorned with decorative floral tiles, while at eye level sit figural embellishments of stone eagles. Terra cotta trimmings, shaped like cubes and stacked above each other, elongate the building further. Embellishments and trimmings are dichotic but more minor in size compared to those found in higher levels. Speculation has long been held as to the identity of the facial stone protrusion above the Bassett Tower’s entrance. Aztec abstract features on the bust include a voluptuous beard and a puffy face. Many believe it to be Trost, while others believe it to be Oscar T. Bassett himself.
Front entry doors with surrounding granite walls are set back from the front facade. The inside face of the steel doors exhibits complex floral and geometric trimming and exudes a grand sense of opulence. Black and white marble paneling boasts smooth and sharp angles throughout the lobby without many Art Deco motifs. Neo-Gothic white Reims with golden circular accents make up the ceiling. Two elevators are set back with detailed Egyptian floral steel doors. Between them is a steel nameplate of O.T. Bassett Tower to replicate its stone counterpart on the outer entrance. Black, red, and sand-colored granite formulate the floor in De Stijl and African patterning. Trost never bound himself to a specific style of architecture and incorporated diverse styles throughout his designs. Art Deco allowed for a variety of design offshoots.
Sunset is the best time for viewing the Bassett Tower masterpiece. El Paso, a desert oasis, is the most unlikely place to find an Art Deco building, much less one rich in history, but it is the place the O.T. Bassett Tower proudly calls home. After new owners acquired the building, Aloft Hotel replaced past offices and medical practices. However, El Pasoans and visitors can enjoy the amenities surrounded by century-old history and architecture.
Streamline Moderne is an offshoot of Art Deco, coming into fruition in the late 1920s. Its popularity hit its peak during the 1940s and 1950s. The signature style found its way into the designs of appliances, furniture, and architecture. The style is aerodynamic and marked by ribboning lines ending with curved corners, curving lines, chrome and steel accents, smooth polished surfaces, and decorative, grid-window paneling. Greyhound bus stations used this style to appeal to travelers. Popular for commercial use, theaters also notably applied this form of architecture. Cinema was still in its infancy during this time, with the first movie theater built in 1896, Vitascope Hall, in New Orleans. The style is the result of adding a futuristic twist to a classical style.
Before the O.T. Bassett Tower’s construction, Percy W. McGhee created designs for the Colón Theater, opening its doors at the cost of $36,000 on November 22, 1919, and showing the opera Rigoletto by Graziani-Castillo-Mondragon. McGhee was an American architect who designed buildings in New Mexico, most notably the Doña Ana County Courthouse, the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library in Las Cruces and the El Paso County Coliseum and the United States Court House in El Paso. He was a member of the American Institute of Architects. Originally, the theater design was that of Spanish Revival and Mission Eclectic architecture.
Mexican stars such as Esperanza Iris, Fernando Soler, Pedro Infante, Maria Felix and German Valdes have been said to have performed at the Colón Theater. The book A History of Hispanic Theatre in the United States notes that the theater presented Spanish-language movies and Mexican vaudeville acts such as the Bell Family of 35 singers and dancers, founded by Londonborn Richard Bell Guest, aka Ricardo Bell. The Bells were headliners at the Orrin Brothers Circus, said to be Mexico City’s most popular attraction and relocated to the U.S. during the Mexican Revolution to perform in the U.S. Mexican vaudeville. Owned by Silvio Lacoma, a “Gauchopin” (Spaniard), the Colón Theater sat 1,067 guests and catered to affluent Mexican refugees. A 1937 issue of El Continental states that Lacoma named the theater “Colón” in honor of Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colón in Spanish).
Image caption: Colon Theater (Courtesy of Fae, Wikimedia Commons)
Otto H. Thorman renovated the building in the 1950’s into the Streamline Moderne style. Thorman, another American architect, designed many houses in the Manhattan Heights neighborhood of El Paso, as well as several buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, like the Woman's Club of El Paso and Goddard Hall on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Colón Theater was not reconstructed, leaving the structure lacking in the aerodynamic components commonly used in this style. On the center of the roof sits two small towers that are rounded towards the back with spires piercing through them at the top. The spires, decorated with stars, plummet into the arrow-head marquee down below. Four A-shaped stakes impaling the building’s front facade hold the parallel columns in place. Decorative paneling of white stars with a blue background that protrudes upwards from the marquee signal visitors to reach for the stars. The marquee itself bears the “Colón” name on either side of the arrow-head shape. The single ticket booth and single screen are nonexistent today.
The theater was the second longest continually operating theater in the United States until closing its doors in 1976. Located on 507 South El Paso Street, the formal theater still stands and houses local businesses. This district is commonly used for shopping material goods, such as Quinceañera and prom dresses, a testament to bringing historical buildings such as the Colón Theater back to their former glory.
Today, El Paso looks to the future with glass buildings and futuristic designs, but nothing can compete with the Art Deco mindset exhibited by Trost, McGhee and Thorman. Cutting edge in their day, the O.T. Bassett Tower and the Colón Theater can coexist with what the future has in store. El Paso is not only a mixing pot for its people, but also its beautiful architecture.
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