Our home

The Ironcraft Studios Building has been home to artists, musicians and metalworkers — and now, to Preservation Houston. This 1927 gem blends Spanish-style architecture with nearly a century of creative energy in the heart of what was once called Houston’s “Spanish Village.”

Preservation Houston’s offices are located in the historic Ironcraft Studios Building at Main and Truxillo in Midtown Houston. Designed in 1927 by architect Hiram A. Salisbury, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style structure was originally built for Ironcraft Studios, a decorative metalwork company that operated a showroom and workshop on site through the early 1940s.

Ironcraft Studios Building (1927, Hiram A. Salisbury) / *photo by Jim Parsons*

From the beginning, Ironcraft was more than just a place of business — it was a creative hub. When it opened, the building was home to a group of artists and craftspeople whose work reflected a wide range of styles and traditions. Alongside Ironcraft’s ornamental ironwork shop were tenants like portrait photographer R.M. Lister; the Hugo Art Studio, specializing in decorative screens; architect and sculptor Charles A. Diemer and his wife, who created garden fountains and memorials; and Gregory Tupper & Co., an antiques dealer offering imported pieces from France, Spain and Italy. The block also included the Pagoda Shop, known for its Chinese furniture, rugs and decorative objects.

The north end of the Ironcraft Studios Building shortly after it opened in 1927, when Main Street’s “Spanish Village” was taking shape. Some of the building’s original architectural details were removed during a renovation in the early 1950s. / *photo courtesy of Houston History Research Center, Houston Public Library*

In the years that followed, the storefronts and studio apartments continued to draw creative tenants, from the Wadler-Kaplan Music Shop to artist David Adickes, who maintained a studio here in the early 1950s. Although some of the building’s original architectural details were removed in a 1952 renovation, it still reflects the Spanish design that once defined this stretch of Main Street.

Known in its heyday as the “Spanish Village,” the neighborhood grew up in the 1920s as part of Houston’s first suburban shopping district. A cluster of Mediterranean-style buildings gave the area its distinctive look, reflecting the era’s fascination with Spanish and Moorish design. Most of those buildings have disappeared, but a few important examples remain — including South Main Baptist Church (1930, Sanguinet, Staats, Hedrick & Gottlieb) and Ironcraft’s neighbor, Isabella Court (1929, William Bordeaux).

Today, the Ironcraft Studios Building continues to support Houston’s creative community. Upstairs, a group of working artists maintains studio spaces, echoing the building’s nearly 100-year legacy as a home for craft, culture and expression.

Ironcraft Studios is Preservation Houston’s fourth office location since our founding in 1978. Our first home was the Fire Alarm Building (1939, MacKie & Kamrath, demolished), followed by the Gulf Building (1929, Alfred C. Finn, Kenneth Franzheim and J.E.R. Carpenter) and, most recently, the Lamar-River Oaks building (1948, Raymond H. Brogniez), where we were based from 2012 to 2023.