The James and Jessie West Mansion on NASA Parkway at Space Center Boulevard in Clear Lake is the latest addition to GHPA’s Endangered Buildings List. In October, former Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon purchased the 17,000-square-foot Italian Renaissance mansion and its 41-acre site from the Pappas family. The restaurant owners had held the remnants of the former West estate for more than a decade.

Though custom furniture and many fixtures have been removed, the 1930 West Mansion retains most of its Art Deco and Moderne interiors.

Olajuwon immediately put the waterfront property back on the market. According to the Houston Chronicle, the site is being offered for subdivision and may be sold for high-rise residential projects or retail/office development.

“Over the years, GHPA has been approached by a variety of individuals and small organizations who wanted to acquire the West Mansion and operate it as a museum, but were never able to develop viable financial plans,” said GHPA Executive Director Ramona Davis.

“We had hoped that Mr. Olajuwon would use his resources to preserve this extremely important property as he did with his adaptive reuse of the Houston National Bank building on Main Street,” said Davis. “That has proven to be wishful thinking.”

The West Mansion, also known as the West Ranch House, is listed i the National Register of Historic Places and is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Neither designation would prevent the building’s demolition, although National Register listing means the property is eligible for substantial federal preservation tax credits if the house is restored to high standards. The City of Pasadena has annexed the West Mansion and its grounds. Pasadena has weak land-use regulations and no historic preservation ordinance, which would otherwise offer the only local protections.

	Apartment and townhome construction is already encroaching on the West Mansion's grounds.

In the late 1920s, lumber and oil magnate J.M. West Sr. commissioned architect Joseph Finger to design what became one of the most opulent houses in Texas. The mansion was completed in 1930 as the centerpiece of West’s 30,000-acre ranch in southeast Harris County.

Although the house appears to be a traditional, if expansive, villa, the interior boasts outstanding Art Deco and Moderne design and once had custom furnishings throughout. While the furniture and many decorative fixtures have been removed, the house is otherwise largely intact and unaltered. In addition to the mansion, the wooded site includes the original tennis court with twin gazebos, historic swimming pool and changing rooms, nine-car garage and manager’s house. A complete description of the home and its history is available on the Texas Historical Commission’s online Texas Historic Sites Atlas.

West sold the ranch to Humble Oil in 1939, but kept the mansion and grounds. The oil company purchased the house and remaining land in 1953. In 1961, Humble Oil donated 1000 acres of the former West Ranch as the site of what is now the Johnson Space Center. At the same time, the company donated the mansion and 21 acres to Rice University, which later purchased additional acreage.

From 1969 to 1991, the mansion housed the Lunar Science Institute (later Lunar and Planetary Institute). Rice University again took possession after the Institute vacated the house. Rice sold the property to the Pappas family, who, in turn, sold the back portion of the land for apartment/condo development. Despite the intrusions, the house, outbuildings and grounds retain a high degree of architectural and historic integrity.

Greater Houston Preservation Alliance representatives have met with Houston Independent School District staff members to discuss options for preserving the 1938 Settegast Estate Building in the 200 block of West Gray. Although the Art Deco structure was restored in the 1990s, the building could be demolished when HISD completes the new High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. HISD took the Settegast property by eminent domain and intends to use the building as a construction office for the HSPVA project. Current plans call for the Settegast Estate Building to be demolished for parking when the new school is completed.

Streamlined detailing and oversized porthole windows distinguish the structure, which was designed by Moore & Lloyd, the firm of noted Houston architect Harvin C. Moore. The building's fluted, stepped turret is visible from Montrose Boulevard and marks the pivot point where West Gray enters the Freedmen's Town National Register Historic District. The building contains eight storefronts and was the home of Houston's Orange Crush bottling plant from the end of the Depression to the early 1950s. A ghost sign promoting the soft drink is faintly visible on an exterior wall.

Work on the seven-acre school site, which is on the edge of the Freedmen's Town district, has generated substantial preservation concerns. HISD has been criticized for demolishing historic houses and removing original brick streets. The most recent controversy resulted from a researcher's discovery of archival evidence suggesting the property contains Civil War-era graves of Union soldiers.

(Photo by David Bush)

Wrecking crews have demolished the former Blessed Sacrament School, 4015 Sherman St. in the East End. The Diocese of Galveston-Houston has torn down the local landmark even though parishioners had raised $650,000 toward the preservation of the historic building. Although some salvage work was done, most of the building materials, including tons of historic brick donated by the Brady family in 1910, will become part of the approximately 19.5 million cubic feet of building materials sent to Houston landfills every year.

In recent weeks, GHPA efforts to reach Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza have been unsuccessful.   GHPA has publicized the effort to preserve the building through an op-ed piece in the Houston Chronicle, which also published a major feature article on Blessed Sacrament School by design reporter Deborah Mann Lake. GHPA members, including City Council Member Adrian Garcia, have written the bishop encouraging him to preserve the building. Volunteer Ray Jones has worked to organize parish members in this effort. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has also offered its support.

When the Diocese announced that it no longer supported preserving the historic building, it also shelved an architectural plan for the renovation created at no charge by the University of Houston's College of Architecture. The Diocese hired its own architect to design a new building and is paying to demolish the historic structure and build a replacement. The project will result in a modern intrusion adjacent to Blessed Sacrament's historic sanctuary and rectory.
 
The Brady family, prominent Houstonians for whom Brady's Island is named, donated the land and bricks for the building, which was constructed in 1910. Architects Lewis Sterling Green and Birdsall P. Briscoe designed the structure with Romanesque detailing. Worship services were held in the building until the present sanctuary was completed in 1924. Blessed Sacrament School occupied the building until 1991.

National Trust's Preservation Online article about the demolition (Aug. 25, 2004) >

(Top and bottom photos by David Bush; center photo courtesy of Ray A. Jones)

The former Southwestern Savings Association Building at 5301 Bissonet in Bellaire has been demolished. Although Bellaire City Council members acknowledged the concerns of preservationists, they eventually approved plans by Southwest Bank of Texas to replace the distinctive 1960 building with a four-lane drive-through banking facility.

GHPA member Jeffrey Mills led the volunteer effort to preserve the structure by creating a Web site for the project and promoting the building's redevelopment with the Southwest Bank of Texas board of directors and Bellaire officials. GHPA also contacted the bank's board and Bellaire's mayor and council members, and encouraged GHPA members to write in support of the redevelopment proposal.
 
The Southwestern Savings Association Building was created by the Houston firm of Fleming Associates. C.C. "Pat" Fleming was trained as an architect, but is best known for his practice of landscape architecture. He was responsible for some of the area's finest outdoor spaces, including the Diana Garden at Bayou Bend.
 
The model of the building above illustrates Fleming's talent for creating structures that respond to their site. The Southwestern Savings Association Building was perfectly accommodated to its uniquely shaped location. An early example of drive-up banking was incorporated into the overall design of the building. Although the building had been altered, it was included in the Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects' Houston Architectural Guide as a significant local example of modern architecture.

(Top: courtesy of Russell Howard; bottom: courtesy of Jeffrey Mills)

The owner of this Hispanic heritage site has paid the taxes owed on the property and removed the East End landmark from the auction block. Despite these developments, the future of this important property remains in doubt as the building suffers from deterioration and neglect.
 
As a result of Greater Houston Preservation Alliance's efforts to increase awareness of the property, the organization has been contacted by potential buyers with sufficient funds to renovate the building. GHPA is putting these individuals in touch with the current owner in hopes that this landmark can be preserved for Houston's Hispanic community. GHPA is also contacting the owner to encourage him to either stabilize and secure the building or sell the property.
 
Sociedad Mutualista Benito Juarez, a Mexican-American mutual aid society, built Casino Hall in 1928. The building provided a location for theatrical performances, public meetings and community events. According to the architectural historian Stephen Fox, the wooden structure was the first purpose-built, non-religious public institution constructed by and for the local Mexican-American community.  
 
GHPA will continue to monitor this important property and provide updates as developments warrant.

(Photo by David Bush)

Sacred Heart Parish was established in 1896 to serve Irish immigrants in what was then the suburban South End. Architect Olle J. Lorehn designed the present neo-Gothic church in buff brick and limestone. The cornerstone was laid in 1911 and the church was dedicated the following year. Sacred Heart Parish was named Co-Cathedral in 1959 when the Diocese of Galveston was designated the Diocese of Galveston-Houston. The church remains at the center of an active urban parish.

The Diocese of Galveston-Houston has approved plans for a new cathedral on a block adjacent to the historic church. Current plans call for the demolition of Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral to provide parking and a plaza for the new building. The Diocese reports the historic church is unsound; however, daily masses are held in the sanctuary and the church is expected to be in use for at least three more years before it is demolished.

(Photo by David Bush)