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Partnership saves five historic houses
DIANE ERBSTOESSER, Chronicle correspondent | September 26, 2002
Historic Houston, The Heritage Society and Project Row Houses teamed up to save the houses, in Houston's Fourth Ward, a historic area where emancipated slaves settled in the 1860s.
Architecturally and culturally important to Houston's history, the houses include a Gulf Coast cottage, which dates back to the 1860s, and four "shotgun" style houses, so-called because of a unique long and narrow shape.
Historic Houston, a nonprofit organization founded in 1998, will provide funding to move the houses to two new sites.
The Gulf Coast Cottage will be moved to Sam Houston Park and donated to the Heritage Society, and the four shotgun houses will be moved and donated to Project Row Houses, located in the Third Ward.
"Working with Project Row Houses and the Heritage Society has been a wonderful collaboration. It's just a win-win for everyone," said Lynn Edmundson, Historic Houston founder. She described the effort as "a great kind of preservation and community redevelopment project."
The Gulf Coast cottage, less than 800 square feet and one of the oldest buildings in Houston, will join the eight other historic structures of the Heritage Society.
A nonprofit organization in Houston since 1954, the Heritage Society is located on 19 acres in Sam Houston Park in downtown Houston.
A tentative spot for the Gulf Coast cottage, also referred to as a Cajun cottage, is next to a cypress grove in Sam Houston Park. The Gulf Coast cottage is a building type that originated in South Louisiana in the 1700s.
Tina Breska Medlin, executive director of the Heritage Society, said the Gulf Coast cottage complements the existing structures in Sam Houston Park, especially the Yates House, which is also from the Fourth Ward.
Restoring the house to its original style could take up to six months to one year.
"But, we're not in a hurry to do it. We want to do it right," Medlin said.
The shotgun houses will join the existing 22 shotgun houses of Project Row Houses, a public art project involved in neighborhood revitalization, community service, youth education and historic preservation.
Project Row Houses is located on Holman in the Third Ward.
Ten restored row houses at the site are dedicated to the arts, while seven others provide transitional housing and services for the Young Mothers Residential Program.
Although four houses have been donated to the organization, Project Row Houses may only benefit from three houses.
"From what I understand, the fourth house was in a fire and it may not be movable," said Rick Lowe, Project Row Houses founder. "So, even if it moves to the site, it may not be restored because of its condition, and we may be able to utilize parts of that house to restore some of the other three."
The donated houses differ in style from the existing 22 houses of Project Row Houses.
"Actually they are quite different. The ones that are being moved from the Fourth Ward are actually pure shotgun houses, and the ones that we have here are kind of a hybrid of a shotgun and a bungalow," Lowe said.
Two of the donated shotgun houses may be restored and used for residences, while the third may become a museum.
Lowe said they hope to start recording oral histories of people who grew up in the Third Ward area.
"Our interest is in starting an archive of this area," he said. "It's just a way for us to kind of add to the story that we're trying to tell and show, about the significance of the shotgun style houses. And also, that they can be used appropriately within the community environment."