Phase One: Hwy 79 Façade

Seen here in 1940 …

the WPA’s renovation of the Rockdale City Hall was hailed as a victory of modernization. Newspaper articles speak of the the entire interior and exterior of the building being remodeled, and the old red brick building now being a modern appearing white stucco building.

While the building did benefit from new hardwood floors, interior plaster, refurbished lighting, and a new arrangement of offices upstairs during this renovation — sadly this is also when The 1895 lost its elegant Victorian details. The iconic bell tower and cupola turrets and spires were removed, the arched transom accent windows were covered over and the roofline flattened.

Prior to the WPA work, articles also spoke of the building beginning to sag and become structurally unsound. As part of the WPA renovation, architect J.E. Johnson built a bi-secting support wall at the midpoint of the building. It appears bricks from the back half of the upstairs were used to construct this support wall. While these renovations did strengthen the building and allow it to continue to serve its municipal functions, these changes also contributed to the building’s obsolescence. Fast forward to current day, the upstairs is neither ADA accessible, nor does it meet modern fire codes since the original secondary metal staircase on the back of the building was removed.

The first phase of the exterior restoration project will focus on the south façade, including:

• installation of period appropriate windows & doors on the south façade,

• rebuilding the cupolas and their spires, including missing transom windows and spire roofing

• reconstruction of the bell tower & re-installation of the original bell,

• installation of spiral staircase to the bell tower observation deck and roof hatch to the bell area,

• raising the front section of the roofline to the original height,

• restoration of the decorative stonework corbels and cornices,

• south façade masonry work 

The 1895’s original brick is a pressed clay princess-sized brick which was manufactured by the long-since closed Rockdale Brick Works. Due to the needing a supply of brick to rebuild the bell tower (as well as the missing north half of the second story), Vision Historic Preservation Foundation has located a brick manufacturer which makes princess-sized bricks and has selected the best match in color and texture to the original brick. The front façade of the building will be refaced with this brick so that it will match the bell tower which will be constructed of the same brick.

(above) Current view of The 1895 after serving as the City of Rockdale’s Police Station & City Jail since the 1950s. (left) Original bell which called the Volunteer Fire Department to action will be re-installed in the restored tower.

Downtown Revitalization Project

A downtown road and sidewalk improvement project began in April 2021, and has an expected completion date of December 2022. The overall Highway Improvement Project spans from the 1100 block of West Cameron Avenue to the Highway 77 overpass on the eastern end of town. The Downtown TASA project includes the stretch of Hwy 79 from Burleson to Green Streets and will include ADA compliant sidewalks, improved parking, landscaping, etc.
The 1895 is located in the below portion of the overall TXDOT Schematic — located at the northeast corner of Burleson St & Cameron Ave. This project will dramatically improve our building’s street frontage and provide proper ADA sidewalks and ramps.

Simultaneous to the TXDOT improvement project, Vision Historic Preservation Foundation has cleared the recently acquired lots to the east of The 1895, demolishing dilapidated structures and has plans to develop the lots into a multi-purpose green space and a parking lot.

Vision Historic Preservation Foundation is proud to be a part of revitalizing Rockdale’s historic downtown.

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