The building currently on fire at 324 S. El Paso St. was completed in 1885 and was originally a furniture store at ground level and residential apartments above.
It was purchased by Chun Mei Chuang from one of Paul Foster’s limited partnerships on August 5, 2022 and is valued at $402,250 on the tax rolls, property ID 366814.
It is a two-story load-bearing brick building in the territorial style with wooden floors and roof, hence the wood smoke.
The “Holland’s Building” next door at 402 S. El Paso St., to the immediate south, may also be on fire. That building was erected in 1883 and is one of the oldest buildings in downtown El Paso. It was the original El Paso headquarters of El Paso County, after it relocated from San Elizario.
The Fire Department is working hard to extinguish the fire, which was not contained as of 9:30am when I shot the attached video.
It would be tragic for our community if 324 and/or 402 S. El Paso Street were lost, as these are two of the most historic structures in our City. The 2017 County survey determined that no. 402 is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and no. 324 is eligible to be a contributing building within a National Register Historic District.
Max
Max Grossman, PhD
Board of Directors, Preservation Texas