GHPA Walking Tour of the Historic Sixth Ward

I went on a walking tour of the Old Sixth Ward Historic District on Sunday, January 11th that was organized by the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance (GHPA). The tour, led by Jim Parsons, co-author of Houston Deco (link), lasted about two hours and was packed full of extremely interesting bits of trivia about buildings all over the Sixth Ward neighborhood.

For starters, I learned what a ward actually was in the context of Houston, and where the original four wards were located. According to Wikipedia:

A ward is an optional division of a city or town, especially an electoral district, for administrative and representative purposes, and for the purpose of providing more direct representation, an elective district of a city council or town board, of which a single councilman is elected from each.

The original four wards created in 1839 were drawn out from the intersection of Main and Congress in a clockwise fashion starting with the North side as the First Ward. I found this old map of Houston through the HAIF website, and here is my best guess as to how the original four wards were defined (it’s difficult to see exactly where the lines were drawn):

The Fifth and Sixth Wards were created later on after the populations of the original four wards grew too large (more on the Wards of Houston from Wikipedia).

Here is some interesting information about the Sixth Ward from the handout they gave us at the beginning of the tour:

The Old Sixth Ward made Houston preservation history in 2007 when it became the first City of Houston Protected Historic District, a measure designed to ensure the future of the neighborhood. The ordinance create a 33.8 acre protected district within the Old Sixth Ward City Historic District; the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission now has the authority to block the demolition of the approximately 200 structures in the protected area. The ordinance also set up design guidelines for new construction to ensure that it complements the scale, mass and height of other buildings in the neighborhood. Previously, the HAHC could only delay the demolition and inappropriate construction for 90 days.

And here is a map of the newly designated Protected Historic Sixth Ward District. There are about 200 protected structures in this tiny area, and about 2,000 residents if I remember correctly:

Jim elaborated a bit more on the 90 rule mentioned in the paragraph above, explaining that any developer or land owner in a city designated historic district can ask permission from the HAHC to build anything they want to on their land, and if the HAHC says no, they are free to do whatever they want 90 days later. Perhaps this is to keep some developers from going through with plans who are on a shorter timeline. Other than that, it sounds like that policy needs to be rethought.

In addition to learning about the preservation policies of the City of Houston and the HAHC, Jim showed us a variety of interesting and historic houses and other buildings from the late 1800s and early 1900s, including the house where Mary Kay grew up or lived in for a large part of her life, the house of William Marsh Rice’s personal Chauffeur, Peter Valentine (full story), and Shudde Bros. Hatters from where a number of famous hat wearers, including John Wayne and Gene Autrey, bought their hats. How about that? I also learned that just across Allen Parkway from the Sixth Ward was the site of Houston’s very own Red Light District back in the early 1900s all the way up to the 1930s.

Overall, it was a fantastic tour, and it was well worth $10. Starting next month, if you walk, ride your bike, or take public transportation to the tour, you receive a $2 discount. And members of GHPA only have to pay $7 per tour. I highly recommend going to the next walking tour on February 15th at 2pm, which will meet downtown outside the JPMorgan Chase Building (the former Gulf Building) at 712 Main, and will cover 20th architecture along Main Street.

One last plug before I go:

Free program: Authors in Architecture presents Houston Deco
6 p.m., Thursday, January 15
Houston Pubic Library, 500 Mckinney Ave., 4th Floor

GHPA’s Houston Deco will be featured during the first Authors in Architecture program at the Houston Public Library. Co-authors Jim Parsons and David Bush will give a presentation on Houston’s modernistic architecture at 6 p.m., Thursday, January 15, on the 4th floor of the downtown library at 500 Mckinney.

A book signing and reception will follow at 7 p.m. at Architecture Center Houston, 315 Capitol in the Bayou Place complex.

The program is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required. Paid parking is available in the Houston Public Library garage and the Hobby Center garage. Limited on-street parking is available in the vicinity.