Ethan Thomas - H O U S E S

Once residential, El Paso's historic Montana Avenue district evolves as commercial zone

When Elizabeth Pimentel was growing up on Montana Avenue in the late 1960s, the street was filled with family homes and neighbors knew each other.

“I remember taking care of the elderly people’s dog across the street,” Pimentel said.

That house is now an acupuncture studio.

The stately homes between the 1000 to 1500 blocks of Montana Avenue reflect eclectic and classic architectural styles from the late Victorian era through the 19th and early 20th centuries. They were mostly residential until about the 1990s when businesses began buying up the properties, Pimentel said. In 2004, the National Park Service registered the area as a national historic district.

Now, the old homes are occupied by businesses like law firms, a wellness center, accountants and personal assistance services. Some of the houses have been split up into suites with multiple businesses.

Elizabeth Pimentel, Montana Avenue Homeowner, looks out the large picture windows of her 118-year-old home. Photo by Ethan Thomas, Borderzine.com

A small recently-used pan sits on a well-loved stove, in a 118-year-old home on Montana Avenue. Photo by Ethan Thomas, Borderzine.com

Next door to Pimentel is a parking lot for the Law Offices of Juan O. Gonzalez, 1312 Montana. The law office opened in the late 1980s after the house went through foreclosure, according to El Paso's Central Appraisal District. Pimentel said a house on the lot between the two properties was torn down to make the parking spaces.

Real Estate Advisor, Gonzalo Varillas, says the area is strategic for attorneys because it is just a few blocks from the courthouse.

“The courthouse is right down the street, you know, just go up Montana, make a left, the courthouse is there,” Varillas said.

Photo by Ethan Thomas, Borderzine.com

Pimentel's childhood home at 1318 Montana Ave. was originally purchased by her parents in 1957 for a secondary income, serving as a boarding house for mostly older residents. Pimentel was one of five children, which made maintaining the business difficult for her mother over time.

“It was a big, heavy load,” Pimentel said, “she gave up doing the room and board.”

She eventually bought the house in 2005 from her mother. Pimentel lived abroad for many years and moved back into the house to care for her mother, who lived at home until her death in 2022 at the age of 104.

The quietness of the suburb, Pimentel says, is the only thing she feels she is missing out on by not living in one of the more suburban areas in El Paso.

Montana Avenue is a major artery for the city, making traffic one of Pimentel’s biggest concerns.

Photo by Ethan Thomas, Borderzine.com

Varillas agrees, explaining that traffic is a factor clients look for when deciding where to buy a home.

“When you want to reside, well, in a house, you wanna make sure that you're in a quiet place,” Varillas said.

Montana Avenue begins in Downtown El Paso, later becoming U.S. Highway 180, and stretching as far East as Fort Worth, Texas.

Pimentel even remembers automobile accidents that have taken down the fence around her home on more than one occasion.

Along with the traffic, she also believes that money could be a factor that makes potential homebuyers hesitant to buy up the properties.

The neighborhood’s original residents were affluent, Pimentel said. Lending to their ability to maintain the large homes along the avenue.

Valuations for some of these homes can be two-to-three times the average market price, per square foot, Varillas said.

“I saw a house once go for about close to $300 a square foot, and the average price per square foot right now is anywhere from 140 to about 100,” Varillas said.

Photo by Ethan Thomas, Borderzine.com

The National Register of Historic Places recognizes the significance of the architectural styles of the homes that include Queen Anne; Romanesque; Prairie School; Mission Revival; Classical Revival; Colonial Revival; Dutch Colonial; Italian Renaissance Revival; Late Gothic Revival and Spanish Eclectic.

The homes also follow along the rail line, rather than the North, South, East and West axes, as other development areas were at the time Pimentel’s home was built.

The rail lines brought building materials that would not have normally been used according to the National Register of Historic Places. The red brick and columns stood in contrast to the stucco, adobe and wood used in houses in the surrounding areas.

Notably, nine houses within the district were designed by famed architect Henry C. Trost, according to the Trost Society. Trost moved to El Paso in 1903, gaining notoriety for his take on the prairie style which was popular at the time, the National Park Service document says.

Because of its designation as a historic district, structural changes to the facade of any house in the area would threaten its status as a “contributing” building, according to the National Park Service. The National Register of Historic Places designates buildings as either Contributing or Non-Contributing, based on the integrity of the designs compared to the home during its “period of relevance”.

Pimentel's home on the document is listed as contributing.

Pimentel has done her best to keep the outward appearance of the house as historically accurate as possible, even keeping the outside brick the same color, but noted that the improvements she has made on the inside aren’t cheap.

She has done many renovations to modernize some of the utilities within the house, like renovating the electrical wiring and changing the old metal plumbing to more modern PVC pipes.

Pimentel is also approached “constantly” with offers to buy the house but refuses them. The only thing that will prompt her to move is an inability to care for the home anymore.