Eleven stories of the First National Bank Building rise at 711 Houston St. in Fort Worth. Built in 1910 and designed by Sanguinet & Staats with Wyatt C. Hedrick, this building has also been known as the Baker Building and the Bob R. Simpson Building. Look up at its eleven stories: it is a three-part, vertical commercial block skyscraper, a clear statement of early high-rise design in the city.
From Houston Street the original width read as three bays, while along Seventh Street it presented seven bays; in 1926 the building was expanded to seven bays wide on Houston, following designs by Wyatt C. Hedrick. Notice how the architectural ornamentation borrows from Beaux-Arts traditions, giving flourishes and details that soften the building’s commercial geometry. You can imagine the slow accretion of the city around this formal, layered façade — a structure that changed thoughtfully, rather than hurriedly.
The rhythm of bays along the corner draws your eye up to the cornice and across the street facades on Houston and Seventh.