Gibbons Building
The Gibbons Building, located just off the Paris main plaza, stands as a modest yet significant piece of the town’s commercial history. This two-story structure, now mostly vacant, serves as a quiet reminder of a bygone era when it was a bustling hub of retail activity and hospitality.
Architectural and Historical Significance
Constructed in the early 20th century, the Gibbons Building’s first floor has always been dedicated to retail use. Despite the passage of time, the original configuration of the tenant spaces remains largely unchanged, with only a few demising walls added over the years. The interior retains many of its original features, including pressed metal ceilings, plaster walls, and concrete floors, which offer a glimpse into the building’s past and the architectural styles popular during its construction.
One of the unique aspects of the Gibbons Building is its connection to the Morgan Hotel, which once occupied the second floor. The hotel’s lobby was located in one of the first-floor retail spaces, alongside a restaurant that extended into the rear half of the building. The kitchen for this restaurant was situated in the rear portion of the adjoining retail space to the east, which also housed a “drummers room” where traveling salesmen could display their goods. Unfortunately, the original hotel desk and main staircase have been lost to time, and their original appearance remains unknown.
The Morgan Hotel: A Snapshot of Early 20th Century Hospitality
The second floor of the Gibbons Building, once home to the Morgan Hotel, is remarkable for its preservation. The 1916-17 layout of the hotel is almost entirely intact, offering a rare look at early 20th-century hotel design. The floor plan features double-loaded corridors that lead to small guest rooms, each equipped with a corner sink and a small closet. In keeping with the period, bathrooms were originally shared among the guests.
Notably, the hotel was known as the Morgan Hotel from at least 1914 until the 1920s before it later became the Lawrence Hotel. Before its time as the Morgan, the establishment was called the McCormick for a while. The second floor’s design is particularly notable for its double-T shape, which created open courts that allowed each room access to natural light and ventilation—an essential feature in the days before modern air conditioning. The floors on this level are wood, in contrast to the concrete floors of the first floor, but the plaster walls and pressed metal ceilings continue the aesthetic of the lower level.
The hotel was situated on the same site prior to a fire, though it is uncertain how much the structure changed when it was rebuilt. While the building has seen some changes over the years, most of the modifications have been minor, such as openings added to walls to create larger spaces. The overall integrity of the original design remains, making the Gibbons Building a valuable piece of Paris, Texas’s architectural heritage.
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