The war apartments

In 1943, under a seven-year lease to the federal government, the building’s upper floors were converted into two dozen apartments for war workers. Houston’s war industries needed beds more than ballrooms, and the temple’s solid floors and central location made it ideal.

The first classified advertisement from the numbered apartments, in September 1943, offered a 60-inch flat-top desk and a leather-cushioned swivel chair for sale from Apartment 11: the insurance office furniture making way for the tenants. The changeover, captured in one small ad.