Neiman Marcus
Department Store

1 Marcus Square - 1914 & Various Additions (RTHL)

Herbert Marcus,  his sister, Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband,  Abraham (Al) Neiman founded Neiman Marcus in 1907.   Before founding the store, Herbert Marcus was a buyer for Sanger Brothers, and Carrie was an assistant buyer for A. Harris & Company.  The renowned department store's flagship location sits on Ervay Street between Main and Commerce.  The structure has been expanded both horizontally and vertically many times.  The original 4 story 1914 building sits on the southwest corner of Main and Ervay.  In 1927,  it was expanded with a 4 story addition to the south, extending the full block along Ervay.  The next addition, matching the style of the first two phases, placed 2 floors on top of the buildings.  If you look carefully, you can see this addition is slightly less detailed.  Another floor was added in a later expansion that was similar to the original, but even less detailed than the previous one.  In the 1940's  and 1950's, Neiman Marcus expanded horizontally to the west several times.  These additions effectively doubled the size of the store, but did not not match the building's architectural style.  The last major addition put two floors on top of all of the buildings, giving the department store a total height of 9 stories.  This addition looked slightly different than the previous 1940's addition, but was similar in style.  The part that was built over the eastern half of the building only made a slight gesture to the ornamented lower floors with a cornice, but did not attempt to replicate the window pattern or the ornamental stone work.  This last addition was constructed around 1970.