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Salon Stefano: The One That Got Away
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...
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Inside the Historic Battle for Glenbrook Valley
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...
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Singing It to the Council
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...
View ArticleThree New Historic Districts Approved
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...
View ArticleComment 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...
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This Old House on the Edge of the Edgemont Esplanade
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...
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A Sterling Example in Avondale Historic District
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...
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Turf Wars
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...
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A Few Freedman’s Town Rowhouses To Be Relocated, Rehabbed
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...
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Taking A Few More Shots at Houston’s LBJ House
LBJ wuz here: Built in 1904, this 3,161-sq.-ft. home on the corner of Hawthorne and Garrott in the Westmoreland Historic District gave the future president a place to crash in 1931 when he was...
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Preservation Texas Declares Germantown “Saved”
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...
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A Look Inside a Renovated Glenbrook Valley Mod
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...
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The New Home of 3 Freedman’s Town Shotgun Shacks
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...
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Moving Lot Lines in the Houston Heights
When it sold in mid-April at $435,000, this gated property in the Houston Heights’ West Historic District came with a pair of apartment units. Now, the 1914 Dutch Colonial with swing-friendly porch is...
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A Twofer in the Old Sixth Ward
This li’l Victorian on Kane St. dates to 1890 — that’s according to the plaque by the door. (You can’t miss it.) In the Old Sixth Ward south of Washington and east of Sawyer St., this lot at 2211 Kane...
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An Online How-To Guide for Houston’s Would-Be Preservationists
The Planning and Development Department has just launched a website that helps navigate the finicky process of historic preservation. It’s still under construction, of course, but the website works...
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A First Look at Some of the 33-Story Apartment Tower Hines Wants To Build in...
Hines and Ziegler Cooper have presented this drawing (and several maps and site plans) to the Historical Commission in their bid to build a 33-story residential tower on the Downtown block bound by...
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