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Historic Districts

City Council creates 3 new historic districts

June 29, 2011
Historic Districts

On June 29, Houston City Council designated three new City of Houston historic districts: Glenbrook Valley, Heights South and Woodland Heights. A majority of homeowners in each of these neighborhoods signed and submitted petitions requesting the district designations.

Glenbrook Valley becomes the only City of Houston historic district outside of Loop 610. The southeast Houston neighborhood is on the west side of the Gulf Freeway and contains an extensive collection of Mid-Century Modern homes, including distinctive houses built for the 1956 Parade of Homes.

Heights South Historic District is south of 11th Street and east of Yale Street in Houston Heights. Woodland Heights Historic District is on the north and south sides of Bayland Street on the west side of Houston Avenue. Historic houses in these two new districts date primarily from the first decades of the 20th century and include a variety of traditional styles.

Congratulations to the homeowners who worked so diligently so that their neighborhoods could share the benefits and protections of historic district designation.

Thanks to Mayor Annise Parker, District H Council Member Ed Gonzalez and District I Council Member James Rodriguez, whose Council districts include the new historic districts, and all of the City Council members who voted to accept the homeowners’ requests and designated the three new districts.

Thanks also to the members of Greater Houston Preservation Alliance as well as the members of Houston Mod, the Historic Districts Coalition and local members of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Texas who contacted their Council members in support of the new historic districts.

City Council votes

Glenbrook Valley Historic District

FOR: Mayor Annise Parker, District A Brenda Stardig, District D Wanda Adams, District E Mike Sullivan, District F Al Hoang, District H Ed Gonzales, District I James Rodriguez, At Large 1 Stephen Costello, At Large 2 Sue Lovell, At Large 3 Melissa Noriega

AGAINST: District C Anne Clutterbuck, District G Oliver Pennington, At Large 4 Brad Bradford, At Large 5 Jolanda Jones.

Heights South Historic District

FOR: Parker, Stardig, Adams, Hoang, Gonzales, Rodriguez, Costello, Lovell, Noriega

AGAINST: Clutterbuck, Sullivan, Pennington, Bradford, Jones

Woodland Heights Historic District

FOR: Parker, Stardig, Adams, Hoang, Gonzales, Rodriguez, Costello, Lovell, Noriega

AGAINST: Clutterbuck, Sullivan, Pennington, Bradford, Jones

District B Council Member Jarvis Johnson was absent.

From left, Woodland Heights Historic District, Glenbrook Valley Historic District, Heights South Historic District. Photos by Jim Parsons, Robert Searcy and David Bush.

Pending historic districts go to City Council

June 27, 2011
Historic Districts

This week, Houston City Council will consider the future of three new historic districts: Heights South, Woodland Heights and Glenbrook Valley. A majority of property owners in these three communities have signed petitions requesting to have their neighborhoods designated as City of Houston historic districts.

It is important to contact your district Council member and all of the at-large Council members even if you do not live in a historic district or have historic districts in your area. The at-large Council members are your Council members; they represent the entire city. During the last votes on historic districts, some at-large Council members said they had not received any e-mails from historic district supporters.

Links to the e-mail addresses of all Houston City Council members are below. Please copy and paste the message in this e-mail, send it to your district City Council member and all of the at-large Council members and ask them to vote to protect these historic neighborhoods. If you are a property owner in one of the pending historic districts, please include that information in your messages to City Council.

The three districts are on Houston City Council’s Wednesday, June 29 agenda. If you would like to speak before City Council during the public session at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 28, please call the City Secretary’s office at 832-393-1100 no later than 1 p.m. June 28.

Use the subject line – Protect Houston’s historic neighborhoods

Copy and paste the following message -

Dear Council Member LAST NAME:

I am writing as one of your constituents to ask you to vote for the Heights South, Woodland Heights and Glenbrook Valley historic districts. [If applicable: I am a property owner in the NAME historic district; designation protects my neighborhood's historic character and my property values.]

YOUR NAME
STREET ADDRESS

Use these links to contact your district Council member and all of the at-large Council members -

District A – Brenda Stardig, districta@houstontx.gov

District B – Jarvis Johnson, districtb@houstontx.gov

District C – Anne Clutterbuck, districtc@houstontx.gov

District D – Wanda Adams, districtd@houstontx.gov

District E – Mike Sullivan, districte@houstontx.gov

District F – Al Hoang, districtf@houstontx.gov

District G – Oliver Pennington, districtg@houstontx.gov

District H – Ed Gonzalez, districth@houstontx.gov

District I – James Rodriguez, districti@houstontx.gov

At-Large 1 – Stephen Costello, atlarge1@houstontx.gov

At-Large 2 – Sue Lovell, atlarge2@houstontx.gov

At-Large 3 – Melissa Noriega, atlarge3@houstontx.gov

At-Large 4 – Brad Bradford, atlarge4@houstontx.gov

At-Large 5 – Jolanda Jones, atlarge5@houstontx.gov

UH/GHPA study confirms value of historic district designation

November 5, 2010
Historic Districts

The University of Houston’s Hobby Center for Public Policy (HCPP) has released the results of a study that clearly illustrates the positive impact historic district designation has on property values in Houston. Greater Houston Preservation Alliance commissioned the study to illustrate the value of historic district designation in dollars and cents.

Similar studies have been conducted in other cities, including New York, Philadelphia and Galveston, but comparisons to Houston were difficult because those communities have much stronger preservation protections. The HCPP findings show that Houston’s results are in line with those for other cities: Historic properties in designated historic districts have higher appraised values and maintain those values better than those in comparable adjacent neighborhoods that are not designated historic districts.

Methods
HCPP conducted a comparative analysis of Harris County Appraisal District records from the past ten years. Appraised values in three designated City of Houston historic districts were measured against values of comparable properties in adjacent historic neighborhoods that are not designated historic districts. Separate analyses were conducted for land values and improvement values. To ensure the analysis compared like properties, the improvements studied were historic houses with similar construction dates. Values for more than 1,500 separate properties were analyzed.

The study compared appraised values in the Old Sixth Ward Historic District on the south side of Washington Avenue to those in the First Ward on the north side of Washington. Property values in the Westmoreland Historic District on the north side of West Alabama Street were compared to those in the Bute Addition on the south side of West Alabama. Values in the Norhill Historic District were compared to those in the southern section of Norhill that is not part of the historic district.

Results
Among HCPP’s findings:

• From 2001 to 2007, appraised values of historic houses in the Old Sixth Ward Historic District more than doubled. Properties in the historic district generally maintained those new higher values until 2010. From 2005 to 2010, appraised values for historic houses in First Ward were in consistent decline.

• From 2001 to 2010, appraised land values in Old Sixth Ward Historic District remained consistently higher than appraised land values in First Ward.

• From 2001 to 2010, houses in the Westmoreland Historic District had substantially higher appraised values than those in Bute Addition.

• The appraised values of houses in both areas of Norhill decreased beginning in 2005; however, Norhill Historic District began a four-year rebound in 2006. The appraised values of houses in Norhill Historic District increased rapidly enough to surpass Norhill South in 2007 and stay above Norhill South from that point forward.

• HCPP also projected that historic houses in the Norhill Historic District are much more likely to increase in value in the future than those in the non-designated neighborhood.

Download a pdf of the complete analysis of the study’s results from the UH Hobby Center for Public Policy website.

Greater Houston Preservation Alliance has provided HCPP’s findings to the mayor, City Council and local media.

Photo: Old Sixth Ward Protected Historic District (photo by Jim Parsons)