Tax Credit Program Highlight: Parker Browne Building

Fort Worth, Tarrant County

1924

Designation	Individually listed in the National Register
Historic Use	Warehouse
Current Use	Retail and offices
Total Rehabilitation Cost	$3,535,873
Qualified Rehabilitation Expenses	$2,892,428
Date Certified	September 9, 2016
	Also certified for Federal Rehabilitation Credits.

History

Constructed in 1924 in the Gothic Revival style, the Parker-Browne Company building is a three-story industrial/warehouse building associated with Fort Worth’s greatest building and manufacturing boom. Located on Lancaster Avenue (historically part of the east-west highway connection between Fort Worth and Dallas), the building and its tenants benefited from close proximity to the Texas and Pacific Railroad tracks. The Parker-Browne building is also notable for its contributions to social history in its use as a WPA (Works Progress Administration) sewing room between 1939 and 1941. Sewing rooms were notable for providing work to women who were the heads of their households during the Great Depression

Rehabilitation Project

Through this tax credit project, the vacant warehouse was rehabilitated for use as a two-story retail store with office space on the third floor. The building needed new utilities such as air conditioning and plumbing throughout, but the industrial character of the interior space was retained—exposed concrete columns and floors, as well as clay tile walls, are still visible on the inside. The historic metal factory-style windows were repaired and retrofitted with modern glazing for improved energy efficiency. In order to add more light, a few new windows were installed on the blank side elevation. The reuse of this building adds vibrancy to the East Lancaster Avenue area, and the project took advantage of the state and federal tax credits, as well as federal development grants and local incentives.