Restoration underway on one of Trost's buildings

By Lindsey Anderson

landerson@elpasotimes.com @l_m_anderson on Twitter

Rudy GutierrezEl Paso Times The Henry Trost designed building at 215 San Antonio Street in downtown El Paso will be renovated.

One of famed architect Henry C. Trost's downtown El Paso building's is about to get a facelift.

The facade of the W. S. Hills building, sandwiched between San Antonio and Texas avenues, will be restored to how it looked in 1926 when Trost & Trost designed the former department store. Crews have already abated asbestos and removed mold, and work restoring the building's exterior will likely begin next month, architect Bill Boyd of Boyd & Associates Inc. said.

"It's probably one of the best preserved of the Trost buildings," Boyd said. "It's a beautiful building."

Rudy GutierrezEl Paso Times Small Fleur de Lis decorate the front facade of a Henry Trost designed building at 215 San Antonio Street in downtown El Paso.

Trost designed more than three dozen buildings in Downtown El Paso from 1903 to 1933, and hundreds of other schools, homes, theaters, hotels and more across the Southwest. Some of El Paso's most iconic structures are Trost's: El Paso High School, the Camino Real Hotel, many University of Texas at El Paso buildings.

By the time Trost designed the Hills building, he had perfected his technique of using reinforced concrete, said Max Grossman, vice chair of the El Paso County Historical Commission.

The Hills building is particularly special because it's second story once housed renowned muralist Tom Lea's studio, Grossman and others said.

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Restoration underway on one of Trost's buildings