Alfred C. Finn

Meanwhile, Finn also supervised or designed buildings in various parts of Texas, including Brenham, Dallas, Galveston, Palestine, and Tyler.

[4] Finn's first commission was as project manager for the Rice Hotel, under contract with the firm of Mauran, Russell & Crowell.

The owner of the new hotel, Jesse H. Jones, soon after established a collaboration with Finn which would change the face of Downtown Houston.

[6] Jones also promised a venue for the 1928 Democratic National Convention without consulting the city of Houston, pledging $200,000 of his own capital.

The Sam Houston Hall, ostensibly built to be a temporary structure, was larger than Madison Square Garden, and equipped with heavy-duty fans and apertures between the roof and the walls to facilitate air flow.

[10][2][11] Finn established a robust practice for residential architecture, especially in some wealthy Houston subdivisions such as Courtlandt Place, Montrose, and Shadyside.

[3] Other homes in Houston designed by Finn include the Sid Westheimer house (1920), and one for oil mogul, Walter Fondren (1923).

[2] He designed the Benjamin Apartments (NRHP-listed), a synthesis of Renaissance Revival style and Arts and Crafts principles.

[16] Perhaps Finn's most ambitious residential project was the Ross Sterling House in Bay Ridge Park near Morgan's Point, completed in 1928.

Smallwood designed the Georgian neo-classical home in Galveston's Cedar Lawn Subdivision, and this neighborhood is now NRHP-listed.

[20] Finn designed the fifteen-story People's National Bank Building (NRHP-listed) at Courthouse Square in Tyler, Texas.

The East Texas oil boom created a demand for office space in Tyler, and Finn designed an expansion which added six stories to a four-story wing in 1936.

[2] The JPMorgan Chase building in downtown Houston underwent a major conversion of its lobby and mezzanine into a 20,000 square-foot dining hall.