Perhaps no other structure epitomizes Amarillo’s role as metropolis of the Panhandle and the role of the Santa Fe Railroad as instrument of that status as the thirteen-story Santa Fe Building. The establishment of rail service here in 1887 attracted the businessmen from Colorado City, Texas, who founded Amarillo. In 1899, consolidation of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe system prompted the relocation of its offices from Panhandle City to Amarillo. The Plains Division became one of the three great branches of the Santa Fe system, and the company aggressively promoted settlement and agricultural development of the Panhandle. Company architect Harrison clad the Gothic Revival building in terra-cotta. The composition consists of a two-story base with tall, arched openings; a ten-story shaft; and a one-story stepped penthouse that encloses an auditorium and is crowned by a giant neon Santa Fe sign. The detailing is typical of contemporary commercial Gothic Revival design, with major piers enclosing the structural columns alternating with vertical mullions dividing the windows. The rehabilitation recovered original materials and detailing in the grand ground-floor spaces and the tenth-floor auditorium.
The Santa Fe Building capped off the 1920s cycle of skyscraper construction in downtown Amarillo, which also included the ten-story Oliver-Eakle Building (1927, Wyatt C. Hedrick) at 600 S. Polk. Shepard and Wiser designed the eight-story Amarillo Building (1925–1926; 301 S. Polk), the eight-story Rule Building and Garage (1927; 217–233 S. Polk), and the thirteen-story Herring Hotel (1926; 317 SE 3rd Avenue).