Braun Heights Waterworks Reservoir Redo To Stick a Glass Box In the Side, Keep Some Grass on the Roof

A segment of the Heights Waterworks properties at 20th and Nicholson St. should be making its way into the hands of Braun Enterprises later this year, Katherine Feser reports this morning in the Chronicle. Building on Houston’s budding tradition of high profile redevelopment of decommissioned water storage tanks, the company will be turning the handful of pump station and reservoir structures on the block southeast of 20th and Nicholson into a handful of restaurants and bars, catty-corner from Alliance’s planned apartments.

One of the features called out in the city’s 2015 declaration of the property as a protected landmark was the “unusual grass roof” atop the reservoir itself; Tipps Architecture’s design for the structure’s redevelopment shows some grass in place on a rooftop patio, as well as a 3-story glassy extension protruding from the east face of the 2-story building. Other views of the complex show a lawn in between the building labeled Heights Tap & Bar above and the pumphouse to the south:

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Various infrastructural accouterments are given prominent sculptural positions among the walkways and landscaping; it’s unclear whether the cage-topped pole sticking out of the building to the right below is an augmentation of or replacement for what’s currently sticking up out of the building:

The side of the pumphouse facing south toward 19th St. is also shown with a patio area spanning toward what appears to be a new building, also marked up for restaurant use:

Images: Tipps Architecture

Turning the Waterworks Back On