The architecturally cohesive town plaza postdates the 1916 fire that effectively cleared most of the downtown area. Only five major commercial buildings survived the blaze. This six-story former bank was completed only three months before the fire and represented a radical departure from the pre-fire Italianate fabric of the plaza by virtue of its size and Prairie Style detailing. It was designed by Charles E. Barglebaugh of Dallas, who had left the Dallas firm Lang and Witchell in 1914, where he was responsible for much of their Prairie Style work. The ground story has been altered, but the upper floors in dark red brick are organized with major and minor piers for a strong vertical effect. The thick, projecting cornice over brackets remains a dominant feature.
Across the street at 30 N. Plaza Street, the Paris Community Theater (Plaza Theater) of 1916 received an extraordinary “Spanish-Moderne” facelift in the 1920s with vertically attenuated arches and spiral colonettes.