2024 Good Brick Award Recipient
1230 Houston Ave: 1 Story, 2,646 SF
1224 Houston Ave: 2 Stories, 6,000 SF
Location: Houston, Texas
Design Completed: March 2022
Construction Completed: December 2022
Prior to 2022, 1230 Houston Avenue had fallen into disrepair with layers of graffiti, paint, soiling, overgrown vegetation and cracks throughout its four facades. The building’s once-prominent original showroom windows were sealed with plywood and its once-shiny curved metal awnings were in very poor condition. A 1990’s metal warehouse had been connected via a metal corridor to the south of the showroom.
In 2022, Urbano Architects was commissioned as architect and the building has now been renovated into an Art Gallery, with Mont Art House as tenant. The exterior of the building was restored to what it looked like in 1940 when it first served as the original showroom for Knapp Chevrolet Houston, one of the oldest family-operated car dealership businesses still present today.
Urbano Architects also led the process of historic state and federal tax credits for the project as well as landmark nominations at the city, state and federal level. In late 2022, the Texas Historical Commission approved the state marker and nominations at the city and federal level are currently underway. There were two urban research studies that were instrumental for the successful landmark nomination approvals.
- Survey of Pre-1896 to 1951 Buildings Present Today on Houston Avenue by Urbano Architects: This research showed that only 10% of buildings pre-1896 to 1951 still remain along Houston Avenue - the once thriving main commercial corridor of the First Ward; one of the original four wards of Houston.
- Small-Scale Modern Building Survey in Houston, Texas by Urbano Architects: According to this survey, Knapp Chevrolet building represents among the few small-scale commercial Moderne buildings still present in Houston today. Two past surveys paved the way and were instrumental to this particular study: A survey conducted in 1978 “Moderne Style of Architecture: A Houston Guide” by Yolita Schmidt and a 2005 survey: Houston Deco: Modernistic Architecture of the Texas Coast, 2008, by Preservation Houston. The building’s Moderne-style represents a typical small-scale Texas automobile shop that provided commercial services for its surrounding community, an important role in local economies since the invention of the automobile.
Press:
Chron
AIA Houston
Realty News Report