Tag: Historic Preservation

01/05/11 6:28pm

Comment of the Day: Without All That Demolition and New Construction, the Heights Wouldn’t Be the Historic District It is Today

Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Houston Heights, Quicklink

43 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WITHOUT ALL THAT DEMOLITION AND NEW CONSTRUCTION, THE HEIGHTS WOULDN’T BE THE HISTORIC DISTRICT IT IS TODAY “What do you think was driving the value of the property in the Heights up? It was the builders, and their extensive work improving the area! It certainly was not the pleasant atmosphere the preservationist[s] created in the neighborhood. The average homeowner has no interest in the headaches of an expansive remodel. The builders took the risks and improved the areaâ€¦all of a sudden the area became safer, and the preservationist[s] roll in, now â€“ everyone gets to play under their new rules becuase someone else did all the hard work and took all the risks.” [Marksmu, commenting on Houstonâ€™s Historic Districts Will Remain as They Are]

77008, Comments, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Homebuilders, Houston Heights

Development Restrictions

01/05/11 2:07pm

How Houston’s Historic Districts Could Still Shrink

Historic Districts, Historic Preservation

27 Comments

Yesterday Swamplot reported that planning director Marlene Gafrick had signaled to city council that 5 of the 7 historic districts being “reconsidered” had not met the threshold that would have triggered dissolving them (the return of surveys representing owners of 51 percent of the properties in a district). The survey processes in the 2 remaining districts, Norhill and First Montrose Commons, are a little behind the others: Neighborhood meetings required by the revised preservation ordinance have been scheduled, but owners there haven’t received their survey forms yet.

But even if those last 2 districts don’t make the 51 percent cut either, the process spelled out by the new ordinance won’t come to an immediate halt. Once the votes have been tallied for all 7 districts, Gafrick will be required to send a report to city council recommending one of 3 options for each of them. For Heights East, Heights West, Heights South, Boulevard Oaks, and Avondale West, the first option — dissolving the district entirely — is out. But Gafrick can still recommend adjusting the boundaries of a district — even if the returned surveys didn’t reach the 51 percent threshold. (Her third option: recommend city council do nothing — and keep the district as it is.)

City Council, Development Restrictions, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Planning & Development Department

Development Regulations

01/04/11 5:50pm

Houston’s Historic Districts Will Remain as They Are

Historic Districts, Historic Preservation

100 Comments

Update, 1/5: Unless, of course, city council decides to shrink a few of them anyway.

The results are in, and it looks like the great campaign to dissolve Houston’s historic districts has been a bit of a bust. Houston planning director Marlene Gafrick reports that the “survey period” for Heights East, Heights West, Heights South, Boulevard Oaks, and Avondale West historic districts has closed and that the planning department has determined that “none of the districts achieved the 51% threshold that requires the Planning Director to recommend repeal of the designation or, in the case of Heights South, recommend denying the designation.” Neighborhood meetings and subsequent “surveys” for 2 more districts — Norhill and First Montrose Commons — haven’t taken place yet (the meetings are scheduled for January 8th and 18th, respectively). That’s it for the 7 districts where petitions from owners triggered the “reconsideration” provisions of the preservation ordinance changes city council approved last fall. According to the new ordinance, if owners of 51 percent of the lots in any of the districts had returned notices sent to them by the city, the districts might have been dissolved — or, more likely, had their boundaries adjusted.

Opponents of the preservation-ordinance changes had focused their dissolution campaign on the Heights historic districts. But if the 51 percent threshold wasn’t attainable in those districts, it seems less likely their efforts will succeed in Norhill and First Montrose Commons. Meanwhile, the city’s planning commission and archeological and historic commission have both recommended that city council approve 2 additional pending historic districts, in Woodland Heights and Glenbrook Valley.

Previously on Swamplot: 8 out of 16 Houston Historic Districts Are Now Up for â€œReconsiderationâ€, The Houston Historic District Repeal Scramble Begins, The Coming Historic District Repeal Scramble and Other Changes to Houstonâ€™s Preservation Ordinance

Development Regulations, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Houston Planning Commission, Planning & Development Department

Buying and Selling

12/06/10 10:37am

We Have a Winner! 1872 Parking Lot Freeway House To Be Moved and Restored

Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Old Sixth Ward, Renovations

10 Comments

The future looked a bit dire last week for the strange, dilapidated bungalow hiding in the back of a parking lot of the old HPD HQ building, just across the Gulf Freeway from the Downtown Aquarium. A 10-day online auction for the city-owned building ended with no bids. And the requirements of the bidder looked a little steep: partial demolition, repairs, a move, and restoration.

But a second one-day-only last-chance auction produced — surprise! — an actual bidder at the initial $1,000 asking price. Lucky winner Kirby Mears says he’s representing an “out-of-town client” who plans to restore the 1872 home to its original condition. “She’s very excited,” he tells Swamplot. But he says the former residence of Sixth Ward carpenter and contractor Gottlieb Eisele — last used as an office for the HPD’s old Explorer program — is in bad shape: “It will be a major restoration, and in the end have a new roof which will match the original in design, slope, and eave details.” It’ll also have a new home:

77007, Buying and Selling, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Housemoving, Houston Architects, Old-Sixth-Ward, Renovations

12/02/10 2:29pm

Comment of the Day: Laying the Foundations for Future Generations

Historic Preservation, Houston History, Quicklink

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS “Humanityâ€™s job is to cover over everything and rebuild every 100 years. Thatâ€™s why we have archeologists.” [Bill Shirley, commenting on Comment of the Day: Must Have Lost Something in There Somewhere]

Comments, Historic Preservation, Houston History

12/01/10 1:47pm

Comment of the Day: Must Have Lost Something in There Somewhere

Historic Preservation, Houston History, Old Sixth Ward, Quicklink

2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: MUST HAVE LOST SOMETHING IN THERE SOMEWHERE “Itâ€™s depressing to see that little house in the Bing aerial view, ready to be swallowed by a sea of parking lots, overpasses and beat-up Crown Victorias. All its neighbors are gone, the once residential area turned into a decaying urban Houston at its worst. I guess Iâ€™m nostalgic for a past I never lived in and wasnâ€™t really all that great without todayâ€™s comforts, but oh well. Why didnâ€™t the city ever just tear it down to build a more cohesive tarmac? When/who was the last inhabitant?” [Rodrigo, commenting on Ready To Be Hauled Away: Under the Freeway, in the Back of the Parking Lot]

77007, Comments, Historic Preservation, Houston History, Old-Sixth-Ward

Buildings for Sale

12/01/10 12:56pm

Auction of Old House in Police Station Parking Lot Held Over by Lack of Popular Demand

Historic Preservation, Houston History, Old Sixth Ward

9 Comments

How about another go of it? The auction of the 1872-vintage former home of Gottlieb Eisele, now a vacant and dilapidated former HPD office surrounded by parking lots and the Gulf Freeway, ended last night with no bids. But today it’s back on the block, with a brand-new item number and a new closing-gavel time of 8 pm tonight. For a minimum bid of $1,000, the opportunity to partially demolish, jack up, repair, move, restore, and then register this property can be yours.

77007, Auctions, Buildings for Sale, Buying and Selling, Historic Preservation, Housemoving, Houston History, Old-Sixth-Ward

Historic Preservation

11/30/10 4:50pm

Ready To Be Hauled Away: Under the Freeway, in the Back of the ParkingÂ Lot

Homes for Sale, Houston History, Old Sixth Ward

12 Comments

Why isn’t there an address given in the auction listing for the “1872 Bungalow Cottage” near the former police headquarters at 61 Riesner the city is trying to get rid of? Because the streets it used to be on have all faded away. The home is tucked almost under the Gulf Freeway at the eastern edge of the surrounding city parking lot. Museum of Houston director (and GHPA staffer) Jim Parsons tells Swamplot the home is all that’s left of an old residential area at what used to be the eastern tip of the Sixth Ward. According to Parsons, the original address was 34 South, and later 22 Artesian Place. Now it isn’t visible from any street.

The final deadline for bids is 8 pm tonight.

77007, Auctions, Historic Preservation, Homes for Sale, Housemoving, Houston History, Old-Sixth-Ward

11/19/10 4:54pm

Comment of the Day: Will No One Rid Me of This Troublesome Bungalow?

Demolitions, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Quicklink

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WILL NO ONE RID ME OF THIS TROUBLESOME BUNGALOW? “Can we tear down during â€˜Reconsiderationâ€™? Please? Please!” [tcp IV, commenting on 8 out of 16 Houston Historic Districts Are Now Up for â€œReconsiderationâ€]

Comments, Demolitions, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation

Development Restrictions

11/18/10 2:19pm

8 out of 16 Houston Historic Districts Are Now Up for “Reconsideration”

Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Quicklink

17 Comments

8 OUT OF 16 HOUSTON HISTORIC DISTRICTS ARE NOW UP FOR “RECONSIDERATION” Planning department spokesperson Suzy Hartgrove tells Swamplot the city has received petitions from 8 of the city’s designated historic districts: Avondale West, Boulevard Oaks, First Montrose Commons, Houston Heights East, Houston Heights South, Houston Heights West, Norhill, and Westmoreland. The department is currently verifying them. Do they all meet the 10-percent threshold that’ll trigger balloting and possible dissolution? “Our initial glance tells us that they probably do but we must conduct a thorough check,” writes Hartgrove. Okay, who’s left? Audubon Place, Avondale East, Broadacres, Courtlandt Place, Freeland, Shadow Lawn, and West Eleventh Place, carry on: You may continue to live in the past. [previously on Swamplot]

Development Restrictions, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation, Planning & Development Department

Historic Districts

11/18/10 10:28am

Time’s Up!

Historic Preservation, Quicklink

4 Comments

TIME’S UP! Yesterday at 5 pm was the deadline for opponents of 14 of the city’s 16 designated historic districts (there’s no going back for the Old Sixth Ward or Main St./Market Square) to submit petitions calling for their oldish neighborhoods to return to the good ol’ days of unrestricted demolition and less-restrictive development. The threshold to trigger actual balloting in any of the districts is pretty low: All they need are the signatures of owners representing 10 percent or more of a district’s total tracts. So who’s in — er, heading for an out? [previously on Swamplot] Update: We’ve got the answer!

Development Restrictions, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation

10/25/10 6:00pm

Comment of the Day: Battle Hymn of the Inner Loop

Development Strategies, Historic Preservation, Quicklink

34 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: BATTLE HYMN OF THE INNER LOOP “Obsolete is obsolete. Out with the old. In with the new. Thatâ€™s the Houston way. Forget living in the past. I want progress. I want Houstonâ€™s core to continue to grow and thrive. Bring in the bulldozers. What if West U was still filled with crappy little termite infested cracker boxes? Would Houston be a better place? I say No. Progress is good. Rich people want to live in big houses. If Houston refuses to accommodate them, the suburbs will gladly accept them. Letâ€™s send the rich packing. Then weâ€™ll let the high paying jobs and commercial development follow them outside the city limits. Houston will rot from the inside out.” [Bernard, commenting on Comment of the Day: How Weâ€™re Building the Heights]

Comments, Development Strategies, Gentrification, Historic Preservation

Development Regulations

10/13/10 5:57pm

The Coming Historic District Repeal Scramble and Other Changes to Houston’s Preservation Ordinance

Historic Districts, Historic Preservation

1 Comment

A small flurry of last-minute amendments — some of them apparently pushed at the request of builder and Realtor groups — means it may take a little time for everyone to sort out all the details of those changes to the preservation ordinance city council passed earlier today. But here are a few highlights, as we’ve pieced them together: Creating a new historic district will now require the approval of owners of 67 percent of all tracts in the district. Also, decisions by the archaeological and historical commission (the HAHC) will now have more teeth: Property owners whose plans for renovations, new construction, or demolition have been rejected will no longer be able simply to wait 90 days and proceed anyway. However, HAHC rulings can now be appealed to the planning commission, and if that doesn’t work, to city council as well.

But the ordinance’s most exciting feature is the one-time opportunity for all existing historic districts — except for the Old Sixth Ward and Main St./Market Square — to remove the shackles of . . . uh, history. All it’ll take to start the repeal process in one of those districts is signatures of owners of 10 percent of the tracts. (And once the city posts the new petitions, districts will have 30 days to gather them.) For each district where that threshold is reached, there’ll be public meetings and a vote — by mail-in ballot. If owners of 51 percent of the tracts in a district vote for repeal, the planning director will recommend to city council that that district’s historic designation be removed — or that the boundaries be shrunk and redrawn to maintain 67 percent support. For each district, city council will make a final decision.

Previously on Swamplot: Preservation Ordinance Passes

City Council, Development Restrictions, Historic Districts, Historic Preservation

Development Restrictions

10/13/10 11:28am

Preservation Ordinance Passes