April 24, 2013 – 10:00 am
Maybe they’re not ready for tenants to move in, but these Fourth Ward shotgun houses seem to have avoided demolition and potential displacement to find a new home in Freedman’s Town. Originally located on Victor St., just a few blocks south of this formerly vacant lot at 1414 Robin St., the 3 houses weren’t doing much at the rear of the site of the proposed 5-story mixed-use Dolce Living development. A rep from the Fourth Ward Redevelopment Authority says that the houses were donated to the authority by the owners and will be preserved and renovated into low-income housing; designs for the new bathrooms and porches are already underway, the rep says.
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Read more about: 77019, Fourth Ward, Freedmans Town, Historic Districts, Low-Income-Housing, Renovations
March 12, 2013 – 10:00 am
Last week, owners Cheryl and David Bowman of 7919 Glenview Dr. were given a Good Brick Award from Preservation Houston for their renovation of this 1954 mod — one of the original 6, says Cheryl Bowman, built in Glenbrook Valley. Purchased in March 2011, the 2-bedroom, 1,834-sq.-ft. home, shown here from the backyard, wasn’t always such a pretty picture . . .
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Read more about: 77061, Awards, Glenbrook Valley, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Interiors, Mid-Century Modern, Renovations
February 21, 2013 – 1:15 pm
Remember that City Council approved the historic designation of the former Grota Homestead Neighborhood on December 5, naming the area northwest of Downtown just between Houston Ave. and I-45 the Germantown Historic District? First placed in 2006 on Preservation Texas’s list of Most Endangered Historic Places, says a press release, Germantown was declared by the organization in a ceremony yesterday — or Preservation Day, as it was called in Austin — to be “a saved site.” [Preservation Texas] Photo of Germantown bungalows: David Bush
Read more about: 77009, Germantown Historic District, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Houston History, Quicklink
February 15, 2013 – 4:30 pm
Before this pedigreed property in Shadyside had air conditioning, the breeze sometimes carried the sound of lions roaring at Houston Zoo. And when some monkeys escaped from there decades ago, they apparently found temporary amusement in some of the trees on this 1926 estate. Or so goes some of the lore shared (and overheard) by those touring the home’s brief transformation into the Villa de Luxe designer showcase, a 17-day fundraising event benefiting Preservation Houston — and ending this weekend. For those who miss that rare opportunity to get behind the gates of the just-north-of-Rice gracious-living neighborhood, this mansion’s re-listing today extends its appearance in the limelight. Access to it, though, jumps from the tour’s $30 entry ticket, which includes lectures and presentations, to the far loftier asking price: $8,390,000.
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Read more about: 77005, Gated Neighborhoods, Historic Districts, Home Staging, Homes for Sale, Houston Architects, Houston History, Interiors, Shadyside, Tours
January 28, 2013 – 4:15 pm
A City of Houston rep tells Swamplot that 3 of the 10 Freedman’s Town shotgun houses on Victor St. between Gillette and Bailey will be relocated in the Fourth Ward. (The photo shows a shingle-stripped one up on a trailer and ready to go.) A permit to demolish them was granted in 2011, but the city rep says that the owners have since agreed to donate some of the houses to the Fourth Ward Redevelopment Authority, which says it has plans to move them to a lot they own at 1414 Robin and rehab them into low-income housing. Swamplot reported this morning that the West Gray lot where the rowhouses are now located has been pegged for a 5-story mixed-use midrise called Dolce Living.
Photo: Chris C
Read more about: 77019, Fourth Ward, Freedmans Town, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment
January 18, 2013 – 10:00 am
Hasn’t this city always struggled to set appropriate boundaries? That’s at least what this photo, snapped on Silver St. near Washington by a Swamplot reader, suggests.
Photo: matt Curtis, via Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77007, First Ward, Historic Districts, Old-Sixth-Ward, Signage, Streetscapes
December 3, 2012 – 12:17 pm
The asking price of a property in the Avondale (West) Historic District has been dropping $500 per day since its latest relisting on Thanksgiving Day. A pre-holiday hiatus had capped a 2-year sales effort at several price points by various agents and agencies. The 1910 home and grounds are described as part of the estate of Ross Sterling, a former governor of Texas (1931-32) and founder of Humble Oil, which later became the far humbler ExxonMobil.
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Read more about: 77006, Avondale, Historic Districts, Homes for Sale, Houston History
August 28, 2012 – 1:36 pm
As Federal-style homes go, this ivy-clad example on North Blvd. in Edgemont has a pedigree that earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places. An understated bronze plaque displayed discreetly beneath a demilune portico says so, but doesn’t elaborate. The 1925 home’s design is reportedly the work of C.B. Schoeppl & Co., whose efforts can also be found in a NRHP pair on Westmoreland Ave., as well as in a few other older Houston neighborhoods. Listed a couple of weeks ago for $1.9 million, this green-roofed home at the eastern end of the Boulevard Oaks Historic District sits back from — and a bit above — the tree-lined esplanade along North Blvd. But its corner-lot address is a tad shy of the double-allees of live oaks found a half-block to the east, in Broadacres.
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Read more about: 77006, Boulevard-Oaks, Edgemont, Historic Districts, Homes for Sale, Interiors
Glenbrook Valley, Heights South, and the Woodland Heights are the city’s newest historic districts, after city council voted to approve their long-lingering applications this morning. The votes were 9-5 for Woodland Heights and Heights South, and 10-4 for Glenbrook Valley. [Previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: City Council, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation
In advance of tomorrow’s scheduled vote on the fates of historic districts in Heights South, Glenbrook Valley, and Woodland Heights, supporters and opponents of historic designation in those neighborhoods have been pulling out all the stops at today’s city hall public comment hearing. [Justin Concepcion, via Twitter] Photo: Daniel
Read more about: City Council, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Neighborhood Disputes, Real Estate Marketing
The color-coded maps, the front-yard tombstones, the shivering naked women, the Ranches and MCMs, the prayer nooks, the free tacos, the threatening drive-by waves . . . it all comes out (well, some of it anyway) in Steve Jansen’s Glenbrook Valley exposé. [Houston Press; previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: 77061, Glenbrook Valley, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Neighborhood Disputes
Yesterday’s city council vote makes the status of 4 more historic districts much clearer. Avondale West, Norhill, Boulevard Oaks, and First Montrose Commons will now officially join 10 other existing districts under the protection of new preservation restrictions that don’t allow owners to do whatever they want if they just wait 90 days. The new preservation ordinance described a multi-step “reconsideration” process that might have led to the dissolution of any of the districts or redrawn their boundaries. But that didn’t happen here: These 14 districts will stay the same — well, almost. There is one property that got away.
It’s this 1929 building, home to Salon Stefano and an adjacent parking lot, at 3802 Roseland St. Last year, the property was included in the new First Montrose Commons Historic District. And now it’s out, scot-free. How did it manage to escape?
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Read more about: 77006, City Council, Development Restrictions, First Montrose Commons, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation
March 23, 2011 – 12:20 pm
Votes by city council this morning mean Norhill, Avondale West, and Boulevard Oaks will remain historic districts with their existing boundaries governed by the city’s new preservation ordinance. First Montrose Commons — minus a single property removed by the recommendation of the planning director — will remain a historic district as well. But by a 7-to-8 vote, the council rejected the planning director’s recommendations for Heights West and Heights East. They’re still governed by the ordinance, but the reports have been sent back to the planning department for “further review.” Still to come up for votes: Heights South, Glenbrook Valley, and Woodland Heights. [Previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: City Council, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation
Planning director Marlene Gafrick is recommending that city council shrink the boundaries of the proposed Houston Heights South and Woodland Heights historic districts before approving them — but only slightly. In this morning’s meeting, Gafrick presented a map of Houston Heights South with “squared off boundaries” in the southeast corner and western edges of the district, and that excludes a number of residences on Oxford St. For Woodland Heights, her map cuts out some properties on Omar St. She proposed making no changes to the proposed boundaries of the Glenbrook Valley district. The actual designation and boundaries of the districts will be up to city council.
Photo from 800 block of Columbia St.: Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77008, 77009, 77061, Glenbrook Valley, Historic Districts, Houston Heights, Planning & Development Department, Woodland Heights
Comment of the Day: Ballad of the Fourth Ward
“Freedman’s town is not a historic district under the City’s historic preservation ordinance. In fact, it is an excellent example of why historic districts are needed. Freedman’s town was where freed slaves settled after emancipation. The land was crap due to the flooding from the bayous. The residents built roads out of brick made by hand and constructed utilities. They basically built a thriving community out of swampland with their own hands. The area decayed and turned into crack town in the 1980s. In the late 1980s, Residents and activists were able to put over 500 buildings on the national register of historic places. Today, less than 30 of those buildings remain. And the effort to preserve the shot gun shacks was based on the historic and cultural value of the buildings, not just for the architecture. Had Freedman’s town had the protection of the current historic ordinance and a fraction of the kind of tax assistance that goes to stadiums, grand parkways and Walmarts, a significant piece of American history could have been saved and become a national tourist destination along the lines of Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. . . .” [Old School, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: Dixie Chuck]