At the age of 12, Alfred Finn left home for a job heating rivets for the Brazos River Bridge. Five years later he landed in Houston and found a job building boxcars for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Then, he took a correspondence course in architecture, went to work as an apprentice draftsman for the foremost architectural firm in Texas at the time.

 Soon after coming to Houston in 1913 with the prominent firm, Finn established his own office.

As Houston grew during these years of industrialization, Finn designed homes for many of the city’s rising entrepreneurs in upper-middle-class enclaves. One of his Montrose Boulevard homes — built for the Walter W. Fondren family — today houses La Colombe d’Or Hotel and Restaurant. The home built for oil man Frank Sterling in Broadacres survives (although with alterations) as the University of Houston chancellor’s residence. A number of Finn homes — sometimes identified by the cartouche design on the facade — are extant. Finn’s own home, a somewhat more modest abode on San Jacinto, remains standing.

Houston’s rapid growth also created a demand for better office buildings, stores, hotels, service stations, theaters, warehouses and structures for fraternal and charitable institutions. Finn designed buildings for each of these functions. His first commercial venture was the 10-story Foster Building, followed by the adjoining Rusk Building in the 700 block of Main.

State National Bank took its place on Main Street as a symbol of the city’s expanding financial activities. Humble Oil and Refining Co.’s first retail service station showed the coming importance of the automobile. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2012/09/21/architect-albert-finn-had-a-hand-in.html

https://mrouchell.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/image005-scaled-1000.jpg?w=500&h=678

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/finn-alfred-charles