O'Connor-Proctor Building
Victoria, Victoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Constructed in 1895, this 2-story commercial building was designed by Cuero architect Paul Helwig. It housed the offices of rancher Thomas M. O'Connor, a leading area businessman,and the legal firm of brothers Venable B. and Fred C. Proctor. It was later used for services of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 1915-24, and housed army officers during World War II. Built of red brick and white sandstone, the structure features Romanesque Revival styling. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Designed by Cuero architect Paul Helwig and built in 1895, this handsome two-story building of red brick and white sandstone reflects the Romanesque Revival style then in fashion. It housed the offices of leading rancher Thomas M. O'Connor and the law firm of brothers Venable B. and Fred C. Proctor, and later served Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church from 1915 to 1924 and quartered army officers during World War II. Its shifting uses trace the changing life of downtown Victoria across half a century.
Why it matters
The O'Connor-Proctor Building is a fine survivor of the Gilded Age commercial architecture that gave Texas county towns their prosperous, permanent downtowns.
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Related people
- · Paul Helwig
- · Thomas M. O'Connor
- · Venable B. Proctor
- · Fred C. Proctor
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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German immigrant George Herman Hauschild came to Victoria after his 1866 marriage and, having built a prominent business, opened an opera house here in 1894. Occupying the top two floors above the family's music store, the theatre hosted vaudeville, plays, and silent films under the management of his son H.J. Hauschild. As "talking pictures" won over audiences, the opera house closed during the 1930s.
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John Milton Brownson, a Confederate veteran raised in nearby DeWitt County, opened a grocery in Victoria in 1866 and the next year founded the town's first bank in a modest frame building on Main Street. Through a string of partnerships and reorganizations it grew into the First National Bank of Victoria in 1889, with Brownson as its first president, and carried on under later names as a pillar of the local economy for generations.
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