From a Turreted Mansion to an Iconic Chapel, Houston’s Preservation Triumphs Get an Overdue Spotlight — Defying the Teardown Trend

Your Good Brick Award Winners Are. . .

By Shelby Hodge // Dec 7, 2021

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Radom Capital earned a Good Brick Award for rehabilitating the Star Engraving Company Building (1930) on Allen Parkway, former home of Stages Repertory Theater. (Photo by Chase Daniels)

Rehabilitating the long-time home of preservationist Bart Truxillo, aka the Mansfield House (1899), in the Heights East Historic District earned Jan Rynda Greer and Tyson Greer a Preservation Houston Gold Brick Award. (Photo courtesy of Jan Greer)

Preservation Houston President's Award recipient local real estate consultant Bill Franks (Photo by Daniel Ortiz)

Rehabilitation of the B.J. Witt House (1914) in the Germantown Historic District earned Brian Miksch and Karen Sonnier a Gold Brick Award. (Photo by Ben Koush)

Alex Woods/Soccer Shots Houston receives a Preservation Houston Good Brick Award for repurposing the Gribble Stamp & Stencil Co. Building (1948) into an indoor space for a children's soccer program. (Photo by Keith Gendel)

This rare modernistic home (1937), known as the Childress House, in River Oaks was restored by Linda & John Thomas after a devastating fire. (Photo by Jim Parsons)

NIcole J. Simien receives a Preservation Houston Gold Brick Award for her rehabilitation of this Victorian cottage (circa 1907) on the Near Northside (Photo courtesy of Nicole Simien)

Neal & Karen Dikeman/Old Growth Ventures receive a Preservation Good Brick Award for rehabilitating this historic shotgun house (circa 1913) in Freedman's Town. (Photo by Karen Dikeman)

Neal & Karen Dikeman/Old Growth Ventures receive a Good Brick Award for renovation of the Carter-Milroy-Canfield Tenant Houses (1920) in the Heights West Historic District (Photo by Karen Dikeman)

Restoration and repurposing of the 1933 Hermann Park Clubhouse earned the Hermann Park Conservancy and the Houston Parks and Recreation Department a Gold Brick Award. Lott Hall now serves as a special event space. (Photo by Lifted Up Aerial Photography)

Andrew Kaldis/Kaldis Development earned a Gold Brick Award for rehabilitating Cameron Iron Works (195-1946) as an innovative mixed-use development (Photo by Jim Parsons)

Rehabilitation of the Mechanical Laboratory, aka Mech Lab, (1912) one of the first buildings on the Rice University campus receives a Preservation Houston Gold Brick Award. (Photo by Hester + Hardaway)

The landmark modernist Rothko Chapel restoration earned New York-based ARO a Preservation Houston 2022 Good Brick Award. Foreground: Barnett Newman's "Broken Obelisk," dedicated to The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Photo by Elizabeth Felicella)

St. Paul's United Methodist Church receives a Preservation Houston Good Brick Award for restoration of its neo-Gothic sanctuary (1930) in the Museum District (Photo by Hester + Hardaway)

The R.M. Henderson House (1929) in River Oaks was built by Katherine Mott, Houston's first female contractor/developer. It was restored by Mary & John Steen, recipients of a Preservation Houston Good Brick Award. (Photo courtesy of Mary Steen)

Steve Zimmerman and his son, Daniel Zimmerman, receive a Preservation Houston Gold Brick Award for restoring La Colombe d'Or aka W.W. Fondren Mansion (1923) in Montrose (Photo by Tarick Foteh)

A historic Craftsman-style house (circa 1907) in the First Ward restored by Bruce Boatner earns him a Preservation Houston Good Brick Award. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Boatner)

When Preservation Houston holds its annual Cornerstone Dinner in March of 2022, the nonprofit will once again present a host of Good Brick Awards to projects and individuals that have had an impact on honoring the city’s architectural past. The 17 winners, which were revealed on Tuesday, range from the very familiar such as Rothko Chapel to the little recognized such as a 1907 craftsman style house tucked away in the First Ward.

As a preservation advocacy organization, the nonprofit has been handing out Good Brick honors since 1979. With Houston’s penchant for tearing down rather than preserving, it stretches the imagination and brings a smile to consider that 43 years later there remain good works in the preservation arena.

Local real estate consultant Bill Franks, who has advised owners of more than a dozen historic Houston redevelopments many of which are Good Brick award winners, has been named recipient of the coveted Preservation Houston President’s Award. The winners were selected b y a jury of preservation and design professionals and previous Good Brick recipients. Kate McCormick chaired the jury.

Six award winners are projects with public components. Two of the award recipients creatively redeveloped former industrial buildings while maintaining the historic character of the properties. Eight private home restorations ranging from a turreted mansion in The Heights to a surprising modernistic house, built in 1937, in River Oaks complete the awards.