Joining the recently completed Amicable building, the Praetorian building towered over the city in 1915 as one of the first skyscrapers in Central Texas. The building’s unique architecture and distinctive character ensured that it continued to serve Wacoans long after the renowned Praetorian Insurance Company closed its offices.
The Modern Order of Praetorians, a nonprofit fraternal insurance organization founded by Charles Gardner in Dallas in 1898, rapidly expanded in the early twentieth century to cities throughout Texas. At that time, five of the state’s largest insurance companies held home offices in the rapidly urbanizing Waco, contributing to the city’s reputation in trade publications as the “Insurance City of Texas.” This prestige, combined with Waco’s rapid development, drew the attention of the Praetorians as the fraternal organization searched for new locations, and in 1911, a Praetorian office opened in Waco.
The Praetorians employed C. W. Bulger and Son to design a high-rise building to house a Waco chapter. The Dallas-based firm, strongly influenced by the Chicago architectural style, had previously designed the Praetorian’s home office in Dallas in 1909 and based the Waco building off a similar design. Begun in 1913 and completed in 1915, the seven-story building featured a gray granite base, terra-cotta tile detailing, large show windows, and the Praetorian shield logo. The interior featured marble wainscoting, tile floors, and high ceilings with deep cornices and pilaster at its construction, although alterations to the building in the 1950s removed some of these details.
The opportunity to lease space in Waco’s newest skyscraper clearly interested many Waco businesses. By 1916, floors three through seven housed tenants, with the Praetorian offices on the sixth floor. The seventh floor housed operations for several railroad companies which played an integral role in twentieth-century commerce in Waco. When First State Bank and Trust rented out the first floor and basement for its operations between 1917 and 1933, the Praetorian building became known as one of the most attractive and functional bank buildings throughout Texas.
Over the years, the historic building has borne several names. In 1934, it became known as the Service Mutual building. The name changed to the Southwestern building in 1956 when the Praetorians sold it as a part of the consolidation process that accompanied the firm’s shift from a fraternal organization to a mutual company a few years later. For short periods of time, the building was also known as Franklin Tower, One Liberty Place, and the Liberty building as it changed hands between different insurance companies.
Following its sale, the once grand Praetorian building entered into a period of disuse. For a few short years between 1962 and 1965, the Veterans Administration operated from its premises. However, tenancy dropped rapidly after 1965, and beginning in 1973, the building sat vacant.
Yet some saw the unique structure's value and sought to restore its historic dignity. W. S. Service Corporation later purchased the building and identified it as a candidate for rehabilitation and renovation. On July 26, 1984, the National Register of Historic Places added the building to its list as an exemplar of the Chicago School of architecture. In 1989, a new owner dubbed it Williams Tower, although it became known as the Praetorian building once again beginning in 1996.
Though the Praetorian building of Dallas was torn down in 2013, the Waco Praetorian remains largely the same as it did in 1915. The building’s current owner, Peter Ellis, received a tax incentive in 2013 to renovate and restore the building. Several floors today contain loft-style apartments. Other portions of the building house Anthem Studios, and the owner continues to consider options for opening a restaurant and retail stores in the future.
Just as the extravagant structure reflected twentieth-century prosperity at the time of its construction, the newly renovated Praetorian building towers over the city today, an integral part of the reinvigoration of downtown Waco.
]]>After the Amicable Life Insurance Company opened for business on April 2, 1910, the owners began searching for a location to house their new business. The owners of First National Bank, located at Fifth Street and Austin Avenue, also served as members of the board of trustees for the Amicable Life Insurance Company (ALICO). The bank owners decided to sell their lot to ALICO, and in 1910, the insurance company demolished the old bank to break ground for the new building.
Construction began in August of 1910 on what was originally planned to be an eight-story building. Yet when the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas planned a taller building, ALICO increased the number of floors to seventeen. The hotel also increased its planned height, and ALICO ultimately decided to construct a twenty-two-story building. Construction finished exactly one year later in August of 1911. The Amicable building stood out from other buildings in the South in many ways. Though most buildings at this time were composed of concrete or masonry, the Amicable building boasted a steel frame. Also, the elevator system within was quite advanced for the time. In addition to these modern innovations, the ALICO building stood as the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and south of the Mason-Dixon line until 1929.
The building itself stands for the strength and stability of the Waco community and of downtown. While many businesses have come and gone throughout the history of downtown Waco, the ALICO building has stood strong since its creation in 1910. It weathered everything in Waco, from the Waco tornado of 1953 to urban renewal. The architects, Sanguinet and Staats of Fort Worth and Roy E. Lane of Waco, wanted to design a building that could survive any major catastrophe. They designed the building with a steel frame that could resist a hurricane-force wind. The bottom half of the outer façade was composed of granite and other stone, while the top was made of brick and terra cotta. It was designed to be sturdy but to have a look that was classic and appealing to the eye.
The first few floors of the building housed the First National Bank. The fourth floor through the twentieth all contained the same floor plan for office spaces, while floors above the twentieth consisted mostly of storage space. The Amicable building became the center of downtown, making its office space highly desirable and the shopping center immensely popular. People came to the Amicable building not only to shop but often just to marvel at the building itself. Until the mid-1940s, the ALICO building was bustling and full of offices that were not necessarily ALICO offices. For instance, radio station WACO was founded on the eighth floor of the building. This changed when the Amicable Life Insurance Company rapidly grew and needed to start buying back some of the offices because of their growing need for space.
The ALICO building has not only served as office space, however. The tower became Waco's crisis center following the 1953 tornado that struck the surrounding downtown area and claimed 114 lives. The building suffered only superficial damage and, having been built with its own generator, was the only major downtown structure with electricity. Medical and military officials coordinated search parties and rescue efforts from the First National Bank on the ground floor.
In 1982, the Texas State Historical Commission designated the ALICO building a historical landmark. The state uses this program to commemorate and preserve sites that have impacted state history. The first of its kind in the Southwest, the ALICO building became the focal point of activity in Waco for generations. Today, the ALICO building still towers above the Waco skyline, holding the offices of the now American-Amicable Life Insurance Company of Texas, as well as providing office space for other businesses located in downtown Waco.
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