Alfred C. Finn

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Alfred Charles Finn (July 2, 1883 – June 26, 1964) was a leading American architect who helped shape Houston’s skyline in the early 1900s. Born in Bellville, Texas, he grew up in Hempstead and moved to Houston in 1900 to work as a carpenter and draftsman. He began his architecture career in 1904 as an apprentice with the firm Sanguinet & Staats, working in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston.

Finn left Sanguinet & Staats in 1913 to start his own practice. His first big project was managing the Rice Hotel, and he soon partnered with Jesse H. Jones. Together they designed several landmark Houston buildings, including the Foster Building (the Houston Chronicle Building) in 1914 and the Rusk Building in 1916. Finn also helped expand the Rice Hotel in 1926 and worked on the Gulf Building (a 37-story Art Deco skyscraper) completed in 1929, one of the tallest in Texas at the time. Other Houston projects from this era included the State National Bank Building (1923) and the Lamar Hotel. He also helped plan the Sam Houston Hall for the 1928 Democratic National Convention.

Finn designed theaters in Brenham, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston, and worked on two Houston theaters, the Metropolitan (1926) and Loew’s State (1927). He did a great deal of residential work in wealthy Houston neighborhoods, creating notable houses in Courtlandt Place, Montrose, and Shadyside. Some of his well-known homes include the Sterling-Berry House (1916) and the Jones-Hunt House (1920). He also designed the People’s National Bank Building in Tyler (1932) and worked on expansions in Tyler.

In the 1930s Finn began doing public work through the federal government, helped by his connection to Jesse H. Jones. He became the first Architectural Supervisor for the Federal Housing Administration in 1934 and also designed buildings for the Public Works Administration, including Jefferson Davis Hospital and the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, the U.S. Post Office in Galveston, and the San Jacinto Monument in Baytown. During World War II his firm did defense-related work, and after the war he built the Naval Hospital in Houston. He designed the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building at the University of Houston, completed in 1950.

Finn married Mary Elizabeth Riley in 1909 and had two sons. He belonged to several Houston clubs and organizations and is remembered as one of the city’s top architects in the first half of the 20th century. He died in Houston on June 26, 1964, at age 80 and is buried at Forest Park Cemetery. The JPMorgan Chase building in downtown Houston later named a dining hall “Finn Hall” honors him.