Our fall all-member happy hour is coming up — now with a new date and location. Join us for a relaxed evening with your fellow Preservation Houston and Pier & Beam members from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, November 10, at Brasil, 2604 Dunlavy Street.
Houston is a city that embraces change, often at the expense of its past. Join Preservation Houston on Tuesday evening, November 17, for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about why historic places matter, what we lose when they disappear and how preservation can shape Houston’s future.
Save the date for Preservation Houston's 13th annual Good Brick Tour, returning Saturday and Sunday, January 30 and 31. This annual self-guided tour offers a rare opportunity to step inside some of Houston's most remarkable historic places and experience the city's architectural heritage firsthand.
First Ward. Third Ward. Fifth Ward. More than a century after Houston abolished its ward system, the old names remain very much alive. But where did they come from, and what did they originally mean? Join us Tuesday, Oct. 13, for an encore presentation of this Time & Place talk exploring the history and enduring influence of Houston’s six wards.
First Ward. Third Ward. Fifth Ward. More than a century after Houston did away with its ward system, the old names are still very much alive. But where did they come from, and what did they originally mean? In this session, Programs and Communications Director Jim Parsons will trace the history of Houston’s six wards, from their creation as political districts in the 19th century to their enduring place in the city today.
Each year, the Future Landmark Award recognizes an outstanding Houston building or place completed within the past decade — a project that combines architectural excellence with a lasting contribution to its neighborhood and to the city. After weeks of nominations and voting by Pier & Beam members, we'll reveal this year's winner during a presentation at 6:45 p.m.
On Saturday, Aug. 1, Preservation Houston members are invited inside the Sterling-Berry House, a City of Houston Landmark and National Register-listed property where Montrose meets the Museum District. The building is vacant, making this a rare opportunity to appreciate its architecture on its own terms.
Preservation Houston members are invited to a special open house from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 27, at the Martha Perlitz House in Montrose, one of Houston’s finest Craftsman-style homes. As the property comes on the market, this special open house offers visitors the chance to see the results of an award-winning restoration up close.
Join us Tuesday, May 19, for Preservation Houston’s annual member reception and meeting at the DeLuxe Theater, a Streamline Moderne landmark in the Fifth Ward. Opened in 1941, the theater stood vacant for four decades before its Good Brick Award-winning restoration in 2015. Between those chapters, it briefly returned to life in 1971 as the site of the “De Luxe Show,” one of the first racially integrated exhibitions of contemporary art in the United States.
Some restaurants outlast the neighborhoods that first made them. They absorb decades of change, become part of how people mark time and eventually carry a city's history in ways that no building alone can. Preservation Houston invites you to join us as we celebrate the inaugural class of legacy restaurants in our Savoring History program — 28 establishments whose stories are woven into the life of the city.
Join us Saturday afternoon, April 11, for an open house at 2023 Everett Street, a c. 1903 Near Northside cottage that has survived more than 120 years with nearly all its historic elements intact. The property went on the market in March and is expected to go under contract soon, but we’ve arranged a private look inside before it sells.
Join your fellow Preservation Houston and Pier & Beam members for our spring all-member happy hour at Axelrad, a Midtown beer garden with a history worth knowing. The building dates to 1923, when German immigrants Gertrude and David Axelrad built it as a family grocery store and residence on the corner of Alabama and Almeda. After years of vacancy and serious disrepair, it was restored and converted into one of Midtown's most distinctive gathering spots, earning a Good Brick Award from Preservation Houston in 2018.
Houston photographer Molly Block has spent years documenting what most people drive past: the neon pylons, ghost signs and hand-lettered façades that mark the city's commercial past. “Signs of the City: Framing Houston's Roadside Landmarks” brings together 30 photographs she has made since 2011 — theater marquees, coffee shop towers, donut stands and painted walls, the everyday landmarks that give Houston's commercial streets their character, photographed with the same attention usually reserved for buildings. Join us to hear Block discuss her work and its connection to Preservation Houston's advocacy at a reception and artist talk Tuesday, March 24.
We've expanded our footprint in the historic Ironcraft Studios Building at 3907 Main Street, and we'd like to show you around. Stop by between 10 a.m. and noon Saturday, March 7, for an open house. You'll be able to tour the expanded office and see the new PH Studio, a flexible meeting space designed to host the programs, workshops and conversations that connect Houston’s architectural heritage to its future.
Join Preservation Houston as we gather to recognize the visionaries, preservationists and advocates who keep Houston’s architectural heritage alive. The Cornerstone Dinner is our annual evening of recognition — a chance to honor exceptional local preservation projects and the people behind them. It’s also a moment to reflect on how preservation continues to shape Houston’s future and to raise essential support for the work that makes it possible.
Have you ever wanted to research a building or neighborhood in Houston, but didn’t know where to begin? Start at the Houston Public Library. In this session, Ginger Berni, architecture archivist at the Houston History Research Center, will guide you through the maze of resources available at the library.
Join Preservation Houston for a special screening of Cinema Paradiso at the historic River Oaks Theatre. We’re proud to co-present this beloved film in one of Houston’s most cherished movie houses, a setting that deepens its story and its meaning.
Pier & Beam invites Preservation Houston members behind the scenes at William T. Cannady Hall for Architecture, the newest addition to the Rice School of Architecture. Join us at 10 a.m. Saturday, January 17, for a guided look at a building designed for making, experimenting and rethinking how architecture is taught and built.
Pier & Beam — PH’s next-generation member group — heads to Avondale this month for a January happy hour at Bar Madonna, the cocktail bar inside The Marlene, a recently opened boutique inn in a historic Neoclassical house at the edge of Montrose and Midtown.
Join us for Preservation Houston’s Holiday Party from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, December 10, at the historic Eldorado Ballroom in the Third Ward. A 2024 Good Brick Award winner, the Eldorado is one of Houston’s great cultural landmarks — a 1939 Streamline Moderne treasure where legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Ray Charles and B.B. King once lit up the stage. After a thoughtful restoration, the building is again a gathering place at the heart of one of the city’s most historic neighborhoods.
Pier & Beam is gathering in Montrose this month for a happy hour during the opening week of Doc’s, the new jazz supper club in the historic Tower Theater. Built in 1936 and designed by architect W. Scott Dunne, the Tower is one of Houston’s few surviving historic neighborhood theater buildings.
Join Preservation Houston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Bayou Bend for a special outdoor screening of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. We’re co-presenting this beloved 1948 comedy in the Diana Garden tent on the grounds of Ima Hogg’s 1928 estate — a fitting setting for a film about the eternal quest for domestic perfection.
Preservation Houston’s History in Print author series continues at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, November 13, with Anna Mathias discussing her mother’s newly published travelogue, The Greyhound Diary. In 1949, British traveler Judith Montagu — a spirited cousin of Clementine Churchill — crossed America by bus, stopping in Houston for champagne at the Bayou Club, a tour of the Houston Chronicle and a boat ride on the Ship Channel with Jesse H. Jones. Anna will share the story behind the diary and read from its pages, offering a witty, colorful portrait of postwar America.
Step inside four remarkable homes during Preservation Houston’s 12th annual Good Brick Tour on Saturday and Sunday, November 8 and 9. From a lovingly restored Craftsman bungalow in the First Ward to the dramatic Style in Steel townhomes — open as a group for the first time since 1969 — this year’s lineup shows how thoughtful preservation keeps Houston’s history part of everyday life.
Join Preservation Houston and The Heritage Society as we welcome preservationist Minnette Boesel to share the story of Market Square’s rebirth through first-hand experiences, rare photographs and a preservationist’s perspective on saving one of Houston’s most important historic neighborhoods.
Join Preservation Houston for a special screening of Hellfighters at 2:45 p.m. Sunday, September 28, at the historic River Oaks Theatre. We’re proud to co-present this showing at the restored Art Deco landmark — and to revisit a larger-than-life Hollywood take on one of Houston’s own legends.
Our next all-member happy hour is just around the corner! Join us for a relaxed evening with your fellow Preservation Houston and Pier & Beam members from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, September 23, at Under the Volcano near Rice Village.
Join us for the launch of Time & Place, Preservation Houston’s new midday talk series exploring how preservation and history shape the places we share. Our first session, Plaque to Basics: Historic Designations Explained, starts with something we hear often: “There was a plaque on that building — so why was it torn down?”
Join Preservation Houston for a rare big-screen showing of Brewster McCloud, Robert Altman’s cult classic, at 6 p.m. Sunday, July 20, at the historic River Oaks Theatre. We’re proud to co-present this screening at the recently restored Art Deco gem — and to celebrate one of the most unusual (and unforgettable) movies ever filmed in Houston.
Interested in submitting a project for the 2026 Good Brick Awards? Join Preservation Houston Programs Director Jim Parsons for a free online workshop at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 24. The session will walk you through the nomination process and offer practical advice to help you put your best foot forward.
This event is fully booked, but PH members can look forward to more opportunities to visit significant historic homes later this year.
Preservation Houston members are invited to a special open house Tuesday evening, June 17, at the Trone-Howe House, a Southern Colonial-style residence designed by Birdsall P. Briscoe in 1959. This was the final home Briscoe designed before retiring, and it reflects both the architect’s refined sensibility and his deep ties to Houston’s cultural and architectural legacy.
Join us Monday, May 19, for an evening of connection, celebration and discovery at Preservation Houston’s 2025 Member Reception and Meeting. This year’s event will take place at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, which was honored with a 2025 Good Brick Award for the expert restoration of its historic masonry.
Join us from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 10, for a special open house at the historic Luckie School, one of Houston’s earliest schools for Black children. Tucked away on a quiet East End street, the 1918 building is rarely open to the public — and this is your chance to see it before work begins on its next chapter.
