(August 20, 1852 - April 26, 1901) Born in New York City to German immigrants Nicholas and Margaretta Heiner, Eugene Thomas Heiner apprenticed himself to a Chicago architect when he was thirteen years old and later completed his training in Berlin, Germany. Heiner became a draftsman for architect J. A. Vrydaugh in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1873. Three years later, with the prize money he won in a design competition at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, Eugene T. Heiner moved to Dallas. There he met and married Viola Isenhour. They settled in Houston and were the parents of four daughters. His first major design was rendered for the Galveston County Jail in 1878. Heiner became known for his work on Texas county courthouses and jails, though his work also included many commercial buildings and private homes. Heiner's designs of the 1870s and 1880s often employed variations of Classical detail typical of American High Victorian architecture. The two-story Italianate and Second Empire style Smith County Jail in Tyler (1880-1881) was designed during the prosperous days after Reconstruction. His style then shifted toward the increasingly popular Richardsonian Romanesque, but retained his strong High Victorian tendency toward vertical lines and structural ornamentation. Heiner designed more than twenty courthouses and jails in as many years. He also was responsible for the design of such unusual buildings as the Houston Cotton Exchange and Board Of Trade Building (1884). A founding member of the Texas Association Of Architects in 1886, he left a remarkable legacy of public buildings in Texas. (2000)
Heiner, Eugene Thomas
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Heiner, Eugene Thomas is a historical marker in Houston, Harris County, dedicated in 2000. It is one of 422 historical markers documented in Harris County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 849 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 29.7662, -95.3875 near Houston. The nearest cataloged historic site is Gregg, Darius (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Washington Cemetery, Benson, Ellis, and William Gammell.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5201011965. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
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