Calishers Department Store

The Calishers Department Store Building, located on the northwest corner of Texas and Stanton Streets, was completed in September 1911. Designed by Trost & Trost, this is one of four El Paso buildings designed by the firm in a Sullivanesque Chicago School style (the other three are the 1917 Popular Dry Goods, the 1911 Anson Mills and the 1912 White House).

The owner of the building, Jacob Calisher, went on three separate trips with architect Henry C. Trost in the summer of 1911 to Denver; then Denver and Omaha; and finally to Cleveland, inspecting extant Department Store buildings while planning the design. The two met in New York City where the design was finalized, with plans based on the architectural style of a Department Store building in Cleveland.

Most older El Pasoans know this building as the J.J. Newberry Building. The structure stands today, although vacant and deteriorating. For a detailed narrative of the history of this building’s erection, please see https://www.sketchclub.net/p/jj-newberry.html

Modern photographs taken by Mark Stone 2020; old photograph courtesy of the El Paso Public Library, via the UNT Digital Archives.

— Mark Stone

Other Names: Everybody’s Department Store; American Furniture Company; J.J. Newberry
Type: Commercial
Construction Date: Sep 1, 1911
Address: 201-205 North Stanton Street, El Paso
Condition: Extant