Rosenwald Building
320 Central SW, 1910, Henry C. Trost

The Rosenwald Building was opened in 1920 to great acclaim. The Albuquerque Morning Journal rejoiced: "With the opening of the Rosenwald Brothers store, at the corner of Fourth Street and Central Avenue, yesterday afternoon, Albuquerque gained the distinction of having within its boundaries the handsomest, most up-to-date, and most complete department store in the southwest."

For its time, the Rosenwald was as modern as they came. It was the city's earliest reinforced concrete structure and probably the first fireproof building in New Mexico. Its massiveness, two-story entrance bay and minimal decoration reflect the Chicago training of its architect, Henry C. Trost.

Brothers Aron and Edward Rosenwald were German merchants who came to Albuquerque in 1878 to open a store in Old Town. Soon after 1880, when the railroad created a new town a mile and a half east of the old Spanish villa, they moved their store "downtown." Their children continued and expanded the enterprise and in 1908 commissioned Trost, probably the best-respected architect in the southwest, to design a premier store building.

Originally the entire building was used as a department store until a fire in 1921 necessitating a six-year total renovation. The building remained a major department store until 1927 when the ground floor was then leased to McLellan Stores, which remained there for 50 years. It was renovated in 1981 and now houses offices.