Littlefield Building Austin Texas 1908

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Today I want to show you another post card which I just sold because it is an excellent image from circa 1912. The Littlefield Building is touted on the postcard as the "Financial Center" in Austin Texas and it is an impressive eight story building that is beautiful. The thing that caught my eye when I was packing this up to mail out was the pergola that covered the top of the building. I wondered just what this area looked like back then so I went to my Austin Texas postcard stock to see if I might have a view showing the top.

Unfortunately, I did not find a view of the pergola but I did find a 1940s E. C. Kropp postcard showing the same building without the pergola and this view revealed the building was on Congress Avenue just down the street from the state capitol. In place of the missing pergola, there is an extra floor on the top of the building. All of this begs the question, is the 1912 version an artist rendering which was changed when the building was actually built or was the top floor added later. Fast forward to 22 December 2008 and I have been sent the answer to my question by a reader. The building originally had a roof garden as shown above but then the Scarbrough Building came along across the street with eight stories so George Littlefield removed the roof garden, added a ninth story and became the tallest skyscraper between New Orleans and San Francisco. This is why postcards are so much fun. Join the party!!