Ironcraft Studios Building (1927, Hiram A. Salisbury) / photo by Jim Parsons
Preservation Houston has a new address effective September 1: 3907 Main Street in the historic Ironcraft Studios Building (1927, Hiram A. Salisbury).
Northern end of Ironcraft Studios Building before its 1952 renovation / photo courtesy of Houston History Research Center, Houston Public Library
Developer Pierre Michael built the Spanish Colonial Revival-style structure for Ironcraft, a decorative metalwork company that had a showroom and workshop on site through the early 1940s. The rest of the building contained studio apartments and storefronts opening onto Main Street, Houston's first suburban retail corridor. A variety of tenants occupied storefront and studio space through the years, including the well-known Wadler-Kaplan Music Shop. Houston artist David Adickes also had his studio on the property in the early 1950s.
Although some exterior details were removed in a 1952 renovation, the Ironcraft building retains its overall Spanish design. It’s a reminder of what was once called the “Spanish Village,” a district of Spanish- and Mediterranean-style buildings that were constructed along Main Street in the 1920s. Many of those buildings were demolished after the area declined in popularity as a shopping destination, but some landmarks from the era remain, including South Main Baptist Church (1930, Sanguinet, Staats, Hedrick & Gottlieb) and Ironcraft’s neighbor, Isabella Court (1929, William Bordeaux).
Ironcraft Studios is PH’s fourth location since the organization was founded in 1978. The first office was in the Fire Alarm Building (1939, MacKie & Kamrath, demolished), and the organization moved to the Gulf Building (1929, Alfred C. Finn, Kenneth Franzheim and J.E.R. Carpenter) in the late 1980s. PH officed in the Lamar-River Oaks building (1948, Raymond H. Brogniez) beginning in 2012.