Magnolia Brewery Building
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Magnolia Brewery was part of the Houston Ice and Brewing Company, founded in the late 19th century by Hugh Hamilton. Some of the brewery's popular brands included Magnolia, Southern Select and Richelieu beers. This building, designed by H.C. Cooke and Co. in 1912, was part of a much larger complex of structures along Buffalo Bayou. The building's details include pronounced cornice, upswept corner corbelled parapet and stained-glass transoms with a magnolia design. The company closed in 1950, but the building remains a link to the area's industrial history. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2003
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Magnolia Brewery was part of the Houston Ice and Brewing Company, founded in the late 1800s by Hugh Hamilton and known for its Magnolia, Southern Select, and Richelieu beers. This 1912 building, designed by H.C. Cooke and Co., stood within a sprawling complex along Buffalo Bayou, distinguished by a bold cornice, corbelled corner parapet, and stained-glass transoms bearing a magnolia design. The company closed in 1950, but the building endures as a landmark of the city's industrial past.
Why it matters
The brewery marks Houston's turn-of-the-century industrial rise and the once-thriving German-influenced brewing trade that Prohibition and consolidation would eventually silence.
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Related people
- · Hugh Hamilton
Themes & tags
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