History along the Way: Stories beyond the Texas Roadside Markers

Chapter 5. Illumined by Truthful Artistic Ideals

63 Illumined by Truthful Artistic Ideals Writing in 1907 about the Great Southwest in an advertising pamphlet distributed by his El Paso, Texas, architectural firm, Henry C. Trost explained in a rather romantic fashion the allure of the region that drew him to make it his home: “The atmosphere of the southwest is wonderfully clear. The mountain masses are rugged and their shadows and contrasts are sharply defined. The sunset tints are primary colors, illuminated with wonderful gold and purple. The horizons are infinite—long, distant, level lines, broken only by the far-off mountains or the scrubby desert vegetation against the sky.The dominant characteristics of the arid southwest are: plenty of elbow room, sharply defined contrasts, long unbroken lines, low firm masses, and vivid colors. With accurate instinct, the old Spanish builders adapted their structures to the requirements of environment .” Appealing to potential clients, Trost went on to state, “Trost & Trost bring to the working out of each new problem in design orconstruction, a virile creative power, steadied by sound professional training, and illumined by truthful artistic ideals.”1 Dubbed the Architect of Arid America by one historian, Ohio native Henry Charles Trost (1860–1933) is recognized as one of the most prolific architects of the American Southwest. With a career that spanned more than half a century, his legacy remains in the hundreds of buildings he designed in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona ,Texas, and northern Mexico.The majorityof his work can still be seen in West Texas, particularly in El Paso, which boasts commercial , institutional, and residential structures he designed in a vast array of architectural styles. Drawing inspiration from the desert Southwest that surrounded him, he often designed buildings that celebrated the region’s unique environmental context.2 5 64 chaPTer 5 As children growing up in Toledo, Ohio, Trost and his siblings gained an early appreciation of the building trades from their father, Ernst Trost, a carpenter, building contractor, and grocer who immigrated to the United States from Germany in the 1850s. Henry attended art school in his hometown and following graduation worked as a draftsman for a number of local architectural firms. He left Toledo for Denver, Colorado, in 1880, and after a short stint as a draftsman there he opened an architectural practice in Pueblo in partnership with Frank A. Weston. The firm, Weston & Trost, enjoyed moderate success, but within a few years a restless Trost, while maintaining his legal partnershipwithWeston, moved to Texas. He briefly spent time in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Galveston —where he worked for noted local architect Nicholas J. Clayton —before relocating to Dodge City, Kansas, to rejoin Weston in a new office there. The two men dissolved their partnership in 1887; Weston remained in Kansas, but Trost, drawn by the exciting and innovative era of architectural design then centered in Chicago, moved to the Windy City.3 Trost spent the next eight years in Chicago, where he worked primarily as an ornamental metal designer. Heavily influenced by the work of preeminent architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, he was an active member of the prestigious Chicago Architectural Sketch Club, an organization of draftsmen who worked in many of the most important architectural offices in the city. He was particularly taken with the Mission Revival style after its introduction at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (Chicago World’s Fair), and its influence would inform much of his later work. He returned briefly to Colorado, settling in Colorado Springs in 1897, but by 1899 the lure of the Southwest beckoned and he moved to Tucson, Arizona, and established his own architectural office.4 Drawing on the strong Spanish Colonial stylistic influences of the region, Trost designed a number of landmark buildings in Tucson, and while he continued to work on commissions there, he soon joined his brother, Gustavus Adolphus Trost, and their nephew, George Ernest Trost, to form the Trost & Trost architectural firm in El Paso in 1903. Gustavus’s twin, structural engineer Adolphus Gustavus Trost, also joined the family firm in 1908. Trost illUMined By TrUThFUl arTisTic ideals 65 & Trost, with Henry C. Trost as its principal architect, enjoyed a sterling reputation that brought many important commissions to the firm in the early years of the twentieth century. Scores of Trost buildings, including many in downtown El Paso and in several historic neighborhoods there, are listed in the National Registerof Historic Places and are commemorated with Official Texas Historical...