Portal:Houston/Selected article/March 2008

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The Rice Hotel is an historic building in Houston, Texas. It was constructed in 1912 on the site of the former Capitol building of the Republic of Texas, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Hotel was renovated and turned into apartments in 1998, after years of standing unused, and is now known as the Rice Lofts. John and Augustus Allen retained ownership of the building after the Texas legislature moved from Houston to Austin, and they sold it to R.S. Blount for $12,000, in 1857, who opened the Capitol Hotel. Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, committed suicide at the Hotel in 1858.