Southern Union Gas Company Building

{{Short description|Historic place in New Mexico, US}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Southern Union Gas Company Building

| nrhp_type =

| designated_other1 = New Mexico State Register

| designated_other1_date = August 8, 2003{{cite web|title=New Mexico State and National Registers|url=http://www.nmhistoricpreservation.org/programs/registers.html|publisher=New Mexico Historic Preservation Commission|accessdate=2013-03-13}}

| designated_other1_number = 1853

| designated_other1_num_position = bottom

| image = Southern Union Gas Company Building, Albuquerque NM.jpg

| caption = Southern Union Gas Company Building

| location = 723 Silver Ave. SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico

| coordinates = {{coord|35|5|0|N|106|39|24|W|display=inline,title}}

| built = 1951

| architect = John Gaw Meem

| architecture =

| added = March 31, 2004

| area =

| mpsub =

| refnum = 04000252{{NRISref|2009a}}

}}

The Southern Union Gas Company Building is a historic building in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is notable as one of the earliest International style buildings in the city.{{cite news | last=Jojola | first=Lloyd | title=Meem Design Proposed for Historic Register | newspaper=Albuquerque Journal | date=July 11, 2003 | location=NM | page=B2}} Built in 1951, it was the largest of several Southern Union offices around the state designed by southwestern architect John Gaw Meem. Meem was much better known for working in the Pueblo Revival style but did design a handful of other modernist buildings, such as the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

Meem completed the design for the Southern Union building in 1949, intending to "project the image of a progressive, public-spirited company". The building has two stories, with the former appliance showroom on the ground floor and a multipurpose "hospitality room" upstairs. The main showroom space is {{convert|17|ft|m}} high, with a sweeping staircase to the upper level and expansive plate-glass windows on the south and west sides.{{cite news | last=Lane | first=Charlotte Balcomb | title=Flying Star, more lofts Downtown | newspaper=Albuquerque Journal | date=August 11, 2003 | location=NM}}

The Southern Union Building was added to the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties in 2003{{cite web | title=Properties by County | url=http://www.nmhistoricpreservation.org/documents/PropertiesByCounty.pdf | publisher=New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs | accessdate=29 April 2011}} and the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. In 2004–5, the then-vacant building was renovated and converted into a Flying Star restaurant at a cost of $3.5 million.{{cite news | last=Lane | first=Charlotte Balcomb | title=Flying Star remodels historic building | newspaper=Albuquerque Journal | date=January 6, 2005 | location=NM}} The Flying Star location closed in October 2015 as part of the chain's bankruptcy proceedings.{{cite news | title=Flying Star to close Downtown | url=https://www.abqjournal.com/659653/flying-star-to-close-downtown.html | accessdate=September 14, 2017 | work=Albuquerque Journal | date=October 14, 2015}} Just two months later, it was announced that the building would house the Albuquerque offices of Rural Sourcing, Inc., an Atlanta-based tech company.{{cite news | last1=Guzman-Barrera | first1=Stephanie | title=Tech company moving into well-known former Downtown restaurant site | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/blog/real-estate/2015/12/tech-company-moving-into-well-known-former.html | accessdate=September 15, 2017 | work=Albuquerque Business First | date=December 10, 2015}} The building was renovated a second time in order to convert the restaurant space to offices, costing over $1 million.{{cite news | last1=Guzman-Barrera | first1=Stephanie | title=How this tech company turned a Downtown restaurant into office space | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2016/09/07/how-this-tech-company-turned-a-downtown-restaurant.html | accessdate=September 15, 2017 | work=Albuquerque Business First | date=September 7, 2016}}