HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Cueto Building (La Nueva Libertad)

Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas

Marker Inscription

A fine example of late Nineteenth Century South Texas commercial architecture, this building was constructed in 1893 to house the expanding grocery and mercantile, retail and wholesale business of Don Andres Cueto (1862-1927), a native of Spain. "La Nueva Libertad," as the business was known, included a retail store, storerooms, a carriage house, and domed brick bakery ovens. Prominent features of the building include its corbelled brick cornice and parapet. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1985

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Built in 1893, this handsome brick building housed 'La Nueva Libertad,' the growing grocery and mercantile business of Don Andrés Cueto, a Spanish immigrant, complete with retail store, storerooms, a carriage house, and domed bakery ovens. Its corbelled brick cornice and parapet make it a fine surviving example of late nineteenth-century South Texas commercial architecture.

Why it matters

The Cueto Building reflects the immigrant enterprise and border commerce that built Brownsville into a thriving Rio Grande trade town.

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Related people

  • · Don Andrés Cueto

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

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