Foltz Apartments
111 Rowland Place
Distinguished by a red brick exterior and a hipped roof, this 2½ -story, four-unit apartment building is entered through a centrally placed wood and glass door with side lights. The very vertical, boxy massing of the building, which is sited on a relatively small lot with little front setback, is broken up by steeply pitched roof lines and carved eave brackets. Each unit contains five rooms and a bath. Adjacent to the building on the west side is a four-car garage. Built in February 1932 for George and Katherine Foltz, this building was one of the first four residences in the new Rowland Place subdivision. The other three are 107, 112 and 124, all built in 1932. Constructed just one year after oil was discovered in Smith County, the building was built by Bowing County contractor A. J. Collins. When work began on these apartments, the Foltzes were teachers at Tyler High School; they invested $5,000 to build this Colonial Revival style apartment. Unit three was occupied by the Foltzes from 1933 until 1938. In that year the Foltzes listed their occupation as "real estate." This dwelling was the first of many the Foltzes developed in Tyler; they became successful real estate investors and left teaching for this new occupation. Eventually the Foltzes moved next door, to the Tudor Revival style house at 107 Rowland Place. They lived there for more than 50 years. The apartment at 111 Rowland is significant as an example of the way investors responded to the growing economy during the East Texas oil boom and is representative of the speculative development patterns that characterized most district construction in the 1930s and 1940s. It is also an excellent example of the revival style architecture popular in the district and in Tyler in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s.
- text reproduced with permission from Historic Tyler, Inc.
- The Charnwood Residential Historic District guide
- Diane Elizabeth Williams, author/architectural historian
