The History of 509 Market Street: Reaching for the Sky
When Peter Youree was named president of Shreveport’s Commercial National Bank 125 years ago, he had seen a lot. He’d been wounded in the Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War, had married Betty Scott and fathered two children, had owned and managed Shreveport’s first waterworks and streetcar system, and had served as president of the Caddo Parish Police Jury. What he hadn’t seen was a skyscraper gracing the Shreveport skyline, and that was something he very much wanted to see.
Peter Youree was a man of many accomplishments.
His dream was “to build an office building for Shreveport that could match anything in New Orleans,” historian Eric J. Brock wrote in 1994.
An early postcard of Commercial National Bank. Note the arched windows lining the ground floor.
In 1910, Youree made his vision a reality when he commissioned the Commercial National Bank building at the corner of Market and Texas streets. Featuring ornate marble and terra cotta accents, Brock noted that the 10-story structure was one of the “major buildings of the South” at that time.
The CNB lobby was wonderfully elegant with wood, brass, marble and beautiful lighting fixtures.
It was reinforced with steel and cost a then-hefty sum of $500,000 to build. The two-story lobby was a vision in marble with intricate Greek key-patterned iron railings bordering the mezzanine and elegant brass elevator doors emblazoned with a “CB” monogram.
In 2016 the building was rehabbed into beautiful, amenity-filled apartments complete with a small dog park for tenants, a security system and adjacent covered parking. The building sits in the heart of the Central Business District and is a short stroll from restaurants, cafes, live music, attractions like the Shreveport Aquarium, casinos, and Festival Plaza. For athletes, the running trail of the Clyde Fant Parkway is a short distance away and downtown offers work-out opportunities at multiple facilities nearby.
509 Market today- The Standard Apartments
When you live in The Standard you will also be a part of the history that Peter Youree helped create, you will ride in the same elevators, walk the same halls, and maybe encounter a ghostly bank teller or two along the way.
Original touches live on throughout the building.
For more information on available apartments, go to: www.thestandard509.com and schedule a tour through the web form. You, too, can become a part of downtown’s vibrant history.
