November 1994 GHPA Newsletter

FORPR EJSERVATION NEWSLETrER OF Tl-I:EJ GREArt"ER HOUSTON PRESER\TATION AlLI.ANCE

IH vOLUME 10, NUMBER 2

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Project__Row Houses

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Temporary art installations going up at Project Row Houses.

by Amy Pruett and Rick Lowe One of the major challenges in historic preservation is finding new uses for old buildings. Success demands imagination and creativity. Not surprisingly, therefore, one of the most exciting adaptive use projects now under way in Houston is an art project Rick Lowe, founder of Project Row Houses, said that the project began with a suggestion from a friend about a different way to exhibit their artwork. "My friend thought it would be neat to use a house to show your work," Lowe said.

Artists tend to rent out warehouses and exhibit their work there. At his friend's suggestion, Lowe immediately thought of the Third Ward area, because he had worked in that neighborhood.

Project Row Houses is a community-based public art project that encompasses neighborhood revitalization, historic preservation and cultural education programs. Located at 2500 Holman in Houston's Third Ward, the site includes 22 identical, free-standing, adjacent, shotgun style, frame houses that occupy almost an entire city block.

Over the years the site had become overgrown with weeds, and the houses had been abandoned and vandalized.

By 1993, eight of the original 30 houses had been torn down. The remaining 22 houses, although structurally sound, were slated for demolition. Lowe said that he chose the shotgun houses for the project, "based on the historic significance of the houses to the community."

The houses are of a nineteenth century architectural style typically found throughout southern cities in neighborhoods known as "Freedmen's Towns," areas populated soon after the Civil War by freed slaves migrating to the cities. The houses, built in the early '30s, are a hybrid of the shotgun style and compressed bungalow. Originally rows of ten houses fronted parallel

streets. Back porches faced each other creating a common courtyard filled with community life - pets, children, flowers and clotheslines. Few examples of this type of shotgun style courtyard community have survived in Houston.

Ten of the 22 houses will be used for long-term, changing art installation projects. One house will serve as a project office and another as the home for a site manager. The project will bring local, regional, and national artists to work within the community creating public artworks in a culturally and historically significant setting. In eight houses artists will transform one house each, creating installations that will open concurrently. The projects will remain on view for five months and will be free and open to the public. Interior construction work within these eight houses will be minimal so as to allow artists maximum creative expression in developing site-specific works. The first art installation will be on exhibit to the public by the end of September.

In addition to the eight visual art installations, one house will be devoted to the written and spoken word where African American writers can live and work in extended residencies. In the first year, writer Alvin LeBlanc will introduce "Street Beat," a year-long program of writing and reading for schoolchildren.

Seven buildings will be used to house unwed teenage mothers, while the remaining five houses will be used for a variety of services, including a day care center. Project Row Houses is committed to working with architectural historians to restore one of the houses to its original c. 1930 condition and appearance. The project will work with community leaders to gather historical documents, photographs, and memorabilia from the Third Ward as well as oral histories to enhance a sense of community and cultural pride among the residents.

Regarding the Third Ward, Lowe

said, "It seems like it is the only one of the black neighborhoods with potential for preserving its culture." Lowe also said thaGi lOt of this potential results from the fact that the Third Ward, including the Riverside neighborhood, is home to many middle class African American families.

Funds committed to the project include a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts Art in Public Places program, a $6,000 grant from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and $10,000 from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation. The project has been awarded $50,000 from Houston Endowment and $10,000 from the

Brown Foundation. The original leasepurchase agreement has been recently renegotiated, and $122,000 from a Houston family foundation has been made available for purchasing the houses.

To further foster a sense of community, a sculpture garden/park will be developed on the site where five of the houses have been torn down. The open area will provide space for presentation of outdoor sculpture projects as well.

This project was generated and will be sustained by artists from the community. Deborah Grotfeldt, former Assistant Director of Diverse Works for seven of its continued page 2

PRESERVATION ORDINANCE STILL PENDING The proVIslOns of Houston's proposed preservation ordinance are still being debated at Houston City Hall. At Mayor Lanier's recommendation, City Council voted on November 8 to delay its consideration of the draft ordinance and eight amendments proposed by Council Member lloyd Kelley another 30 days. The Mayor's proposed amendment to the city's historic tax incentive ordinance is also affected by the delay.

Houston clearly lags behind most other cities in its preservation efforts even though two preservation-related ordinances have previously been approved. In effect since 1981, one of these ordinances established a local tax incentive for historic preservation, allowing an abatement of up to half of the amount paid in city property taxes on an approved preservation project The second, approved in 1985, estab-

lished the Houston Archeological and Historical Commission (HAHC) to advise the Mayor and City Council on preservation-related issues. Neither ordinance has had much effect on the overall trend toward deterioration of entire historic areas and demolition of many significant buildings. Since 1984, when the Main StreetlMarket Square National Register District was established, significant historic buildings have been demolished at an approximate rate of one per year. According to the Department of Planning and Development, who has recently carried out a windshield survey of National Register listed buildings and historic districts in the city, approximately 250 of these properties have been demolished since they were originally listed. continued page 2

~E 2 Preservation Ordinance continued from front page The most significant deterrent to historic preservation in Houston has been our laissez faire decision-making traditions with respect to land use. Antiregulation sentiments coupled with a veneration of new construction and unfettered real estate development have been difficult forces to overcome in preservation-related efforts as well as numerous other public policy issues related to improving local quality of life.

We have had a hard time applying preservation principles learned in approximately 2,000 other U. S. cities where local preservation ordinances have been established.

As reported earlier this year in For Preservation, the first draft of the proposed ordinance was released on March 2. This draft provided for most of the features typically included in a local preservation ordinance although the proposed provisions were quite lenient compared to programs in many other cities. The ordinance would give HARC the authority to review projects affecting the exteriors of designated landmarks and buildings located within designated historic districts. Proposed demolitions and relocations of historic buildings would also be reviewed. Even if they disapproved a proposed demolition or relocation, however, HARC could not stop it. In the event no other mutually agreeable solution could be negotiated, the only constraint HARC could impose would be a time delay. A lBO-day waiting period would ensue before issuance of a demolition permit; issuance of a permit to relocate a historic structure would require a waiting period of only 90 days.

During the past spring and summer, the draft ordinance was reviewed by both HARC and the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC). Public hearings were held and comments taken by both commissions. Few questions were raised concerning the wisdom or necessity of conducting simultaneous reviews by co-equal commissions. The recommendations of the two groups differed significantly.

HARC voted to recommend to City Council the staff version of the draft ordinance with very few modifications.

Members ofHARC discussed whether or

Project Row House continued from front page ten-year history, will be working with Mr. Lowe managing administration and fundraising for the project As a community based and artistrun public art project, Project Row Houses will bring civic leaders, community activists, business owners, church and school leaders, students and artists together to determine the needs of the community, help restore and maintain the site, and shape the educational activities that accompany the exhibitions and installations. A board of directors is being developed to provide policy and fundraising expertise to the organization.

Rick Lowe, founder and project director ofProject Row Houses, has lived and worked in Houston since 1985, as an artist, activist and a facilitator of col1111UUli.ty-based projects.

Amy Pruett is a junior, rrwjoring in Public Relations, at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas and is working for GHPA between semesters.

F()RPRES;E}tVATION . I not economic incentives should be provided for in the ordinance. On the advice of city staff, they decided to postpone serious consideration of incentives until after the basic preservation ordinance had been approved.

Discussions within PZC were marked by considerably more controversy, especially with regard to whether a local preservation ordinance should apply equally to everyone or be based on a system of voluntary compliance.

The reality that citizens don't have the right to veto building codes or other local laws and should not be allowed to exempt themselves from historic preservation laws was not sufficient to persuade the membership to support mandatory provisions. On May 12, PZC voted 7-6 to approve a motion introduced by PZC member Wayne Fox that would essentially negate the purpose of the ordinance by making compliance with it voluntary. Fox's recommended change would affect the designation procedure for both individual landmarks and historic districts so as to make it impossible for the city to designate any property without a request by the owner or owners for the designation.

Except for instances in which both HARC and PZC recommended historic designation and the City chose to purchase the property through its eminent domain powers, the Fox amendment would prohibit City Council from designating historic landmarks, sites, and districts without obtaining the written consent of the owners of affected properties.

In the case of a historic district, written consent would be required from 67% of the owners of individual tracts constituting 51 % of the land area within the district Furthermore, the owner of any property within a district would be allowed to opt out of the district within 120 days of designation, and thereby avoid being affected by it The initiation process for applying for designation of an historic landmark could not be initiated by HARC or any other city agency or anyone other than the owner.

On September 2B, the city administration presented the PZC version of the ordinance to City Council. In the materials presented to Council, no mention was made of HARC, the city's in-house experts on historic preservation, or the fact that HARC had voted to recommend a very different version of the preservation ordinance from the one they had received. Simultaneously, council members also received the draft of another ordinance to amend the local preservation tax incentive ordinance that has been in effect since 19B1. At the same time, Council Member Lloyd Kelley introduced eight amendments, the intent of which was to nullify the effect of the Fox amendment on the owner consent requirements and to strengthen other provisions. One amendment would give HARC the authority to deny a demolition request except in instances of economic hardship.

As things currently stand, City Council has voted twice to delay acting on the proposals. The next appearance of the preservation issue on Council agenda will be in early December.

Mayor Lanier has asked preservationists to meet with property rights advocates to try to work out a compromise solution.

The conflict between the PZC recommendations and those from the preservation community, including HARe, has been mistakenly characterized as an issue that requires choosing

1994 GOOD BRICK AWARDS

Metropolitan Community Church of the Resurrection won a 1994 Good Brick Award for saving The McEvine House in the Old Sixth Ward Historic District.

Doreen and Earl James received a 1994 Good Brick Award for meticulously rehabilita~ ing this previously abandoned post Victorian cottage in the Woodland Heights.

between restnctIons and incentives as two opposing approaches to preservation. In reality, effective preservation programs in other localities generally rely on a combination of approaches.

Both carrots and sticks are needed. Even in the presence of incentives, it only takes one property owner to decide not to comply with voluntary controls to destroy their effectiveness. If a community does not have a system to protect the places its citizens value, sooner or later someone will come along and destroy those places. There is ample evidence from Houston alone that a voluntary program based only on the use of incentives to induce compliance with preservation objectives does not work.

Even though federal rehabilitation tax credits for historic buildings and the local historic property tax abatement have been available for many years for preservation projects in Houston, they have had little effect in stimulating restoration and rehabilitation projects or in preventing the deterioration and destruction of many important historic buildings.

In 19BO, the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance published Last of the Past: Houston Architecture 1847 to 1915, an inventory of 51 historic buildings constructed in downtown Houston before World War I. Fourteen of these buildings are no longer standing. Nor, in most cases, have they been replaced by

new construction that makes a positive contribution to the urban environment Twelve have been demolished and replaced by surface parking lots, one has been replaced by a parking garage, and the other by a drive-in bank.

Meanwhile, prospective new businesses recruited by the Market Square Economic Development Corporation to consider purchase of or relocation to historic buildings in the Market Square Historic District often cannot afford to do so because of the unfettered, often speculative, economic expectations of current owners. Others are reluctant to open offices or businesses in the area in fear of inadequate future security for their investments in a historic district without any protections.

In the absence of the context of an enforceable public policy to direct the manner and extent to which historic properties may be protected or modified for the benefit of the city at large, the pattern of deterioration and demolition of Houston's historical assets will not be reversed. Laws that require owner consent before they can be applied are not laws at all. Citizens do not have the right to veto other laws, and to allow individuals to carve out exemptions for themselves in the instance of local historic preservation laws would be a strange precedent. Whatever provisions are included in a preservation ordinance should apply to everyone.

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PRESERVATION------~~-

Houston Endowment Grant Awarded

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A $50,000 grant from Houston Endowment has been awarded to the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance for the final phase of the rehabilitation of two houses in the Old Sixth Ward National Register Historic District and their sale as affordable income housing.

Construction financing was approved on November 10 and completion will be within the next three months.

Although new to Houston, this approach to the rehabilitation of historic buildings for use as affordable housing is widely used in other cities.

The Galveston Historical Foundation's Rainbow Row project provided a model for this project and GHF has generously shared its experience and insights with GHPA throughout this project.

In 1991, alarmed by the threat of destruction of these two houses, GHPA worked with concerned neighborhood preservationists, the Texas Historical Commission, and the Houston Archeological and Historical Commission to persuade the owner to halt plans for demolition. The owner of the houses, local Houston businessman Fred V. Cannata then donated to GHPA these two historic, Victorian era, woodframe shotgun-style houses located at 2011 and 2013 Decatur.

The Cannata houses, as they are now known, were originally built in the 1880s in what eventually became Houston's first National Register of Historic Places district. The neighborhood was originally platted by W. R. Baker, one of Houston's earliest settlers and President of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. The development of the neighborhood coincided closely with the development of the railroad, attracting many immigrant families who came to Houston after the Civil War to work in the rail yards.

The houses had been vacant, neglected, eaten by termites, and plagued by vandalism for many months before GHPA received them. The City of Houston had tagged them as dangerous buildings. The Alliance consulted preservation groups throughout the state and considered many alternatives before formulating its plan for historic rehabilitation and sale as affordable housing.

Fundraising for the project achieved its first success with the award of a "two for one" matching grant of $5,000 from the Texas Historical Commission, the largest grant made by the Commission in 1993. The Alliance matched these funds with money from its special purpose Sabine Fund, which had been established in 1985, upon the dissolution of the Sabine Association, for the purpose of promoting the restoration, preservation, and prevention of deterioration of this area.

Stabilization, termite treatment, and carpentry were carried out in the initial phase of the project. The growth of a tree had pushed the foundation of one building 11 inches off center. Both houses were raised and leveled. and masonry piers were rebuilt and repointed. Deteriorated sections of wood beams were replaced.

The front porches have been completely rebuilt using treated lumber, and redwood has been used to replace missing and rotted decorative trim and porch column. Salvaged intact wood siding matching the original is being used for repairs. A new utility room and porch were added to the rear of each house.

With Houston Endowment's grant, GHPA can finish the balance of the work needed to bring the houses up to City of Houston Building Code while adhering to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. The scope of work includes: restoration of existing windows; repair and refinishing of doors, frames and hardware; removal and replacement of rotted sections of flooring; refinishing of wood floors; new plumbing fixtures and electrical conduit; replacement of studs as needed; new fixtures, cabinets and hardware in the kitchens and bathrooms; attic insulation and new roof; new heating and air conditioning; and painting throughout.

The Old Sixth Ward Community Development Corporation is a partner in the project. The organization is marketing the homes to prospective buyers and pre-screening applicant qualifications.

The Old Sixth Ward Neighborhood Association has also been involved throughout the project. "Increasing the stock of affordable housing in this area will magnify the tremendous revitalization that has gone on here in recent years," explained Gil Costas, President of the Old Sixth Ward Neighborhood Association. "We are enormously grateful to Houston Endowment's generosity in helping to make the Cannata houses a reality and a new asset to our neighborhood."

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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

by David Beale

When we think about our future, we envision a GHPA of several thousand members, financially strong, organizationally sure, creating historic preservation programs to solve problems before they become catastrophes, even before they become problems. We are taking steps toward that vision this year.

GHPA has grown in a few short years from a small group to one of more than 500 members. We have a wide variety of preservation programs. By advocating, getting involved, and being visible, we appear much larger than we really are. And we are accomplishing these things with a one-person staff, our dedicated Executive Director, Margie C. Elliott.

By contrast, the Galveston Historical Foundation has a staff of eight We clearly need more help.

To keep volunteers better informed, we have created an in-house monthly newsletter, the Historical Gazette. As I organize the monthly committee reports, it is really exciting to see what we are doing. The Membership Committee is embarking on a plan to double membership in the upcoming year. The Special Events Committee and Awards Committee have just recently completed the very successful 1994 Good Brick Awards presentation., held at the Musewn of Fine Arts in September. By introducing Houstonians and out-of-towners to local history through monthly tours, the Walking Tours Committee has helped sign up approximately 100 new members and have raised several thousand dollars so far this year. We have drawn rave reviews from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and others for our Heritage Education Committee's curriculwn guide

for area elementary schools. Construction work on our Cannata houses project has begun and will soon be complete. The African-American Heritage Committee was formed this year to help increase awareness of the history of the AfricanAmerican community in Houston and is making plans for its first program, which will be a symposiwn. Our most important current project is supporting the adoption of a local historic preservation ordinance.

City Council has delayed action, but is expected to vote on the ordinance in early December.

Where are we headed from here and how do we get there? The Strategic Planning Committee (under the leadership of Minnette Boesel) is working to formulate a plan so that we can reach our goals, but they cannot do it without your input. One of the first steps is to obtain information from our members, on what you think of the job we are doing and where you would like to see us go in the future. To do that, the Committee will soon be sending a questionnaire to GHPA members. When you receive it, please take a moment to complete it and return it to GHPA - in order to get meaningful results, it is essential that we get a high rate of response.

We will need a much larger volunteer group to plan and carry out the programs of a mature historic preservation organization. H you want to volunteer for one of our activities or committees, call me at 658-0808 and I will help you get involved. Or call Margie Elliott at 216-5000, or our Volunteers Committee Chairperson, Danni Sabota at 227-3100.

You will be part of an enthusiastic, energetic group that wants to make Houston a better place live.

Hogg Palace Lofts Help Keep Downtown Development Alive

by Cindy Garrett A current downtown loft conversion may signal a hopeful trend toward more revitalization and residential development in that area.

The project began in March this year when the Hogg Venture Partnership, a group of investors which includes developer Randall Davis, purchased the eight-story Hogg Building from Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company. Honoring the leases of the few tenants remaining in the building, the Randall Davis Company started removing the walls, ceiling and carpet from unoccupied offices. By June, most of the original floors and concrete beams were visible.

"We have had many calls regarding the progress of the building," says Martie Terry, vice president of operations for Randall Davis Company. "We anticipate

opening the building in the spring of 1995."

The Hogg Palace Lofts, as the project is being called. will contain 81 apartments averaging 950 square feet. The floors will be pine, the ceilings will be 10 to 14 feet high, and the bathrooms will be oversized with whirlpool tubs. Space inside the building is being set aside for parking, a deli/grocery, dry cleaners, fitness center, communication room, and a state-of-the-art theater.

Two occupants of the building will be staying, Dudensing & Webb law firm., and Houston Partners, an investment banking firm, whose offices occupy the penthouse and rooftop garden.

The Hogg Building, or Armor Building as it was known for many years, was completed in 1921 by William and Mike Hogg, sons of Texas Governor Jim Hogg and brothers of Houston philanthropist Ima Hogg. The brothers lived in

the penthouse of the reinforced concrete frame building which contained the offices and showroom of the Armor Auto Company.

The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Hogg Venture Partnership plans to use reinvestment tax credits, reductions which are available to owners and developers who carry out certified rehabilitation projects to buildings listed in the National Register. This is Davis' third development project in the downtown Houston area.

For more information on the Hogg Palace Lofts, contact Martie Terry at 526-3222.

GHPA member Cindy Garrett works as an editor of the alwnni letter at the University of Texas-Houston Dental Branch. She is also involved in writing and publications there.

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FOR PRESERVATioN

INSIDE GHPA Preservationists salute and thank structural engineer Roland Drewyer who volunteered his services to GHPA in a recent case concerning the historic Dixon Building at 110 Milam brought by the City's Neighborhood Protection Services to a hearing before the Building and Standards Commission. Mr. Drewyer had called GHPA last fall following the city's demolition of the Burns Building at 419 Main Street to offer his services in the event of future emergencies involving possible or suspected structural failure of historic buildings.

When we learned that the city had opened a dangerous building file on the Dixon Building, we called Mr. Drewyer to take a look at the condition of the building. His report determined that the 1906 four story plus basement building, which had suffered extensive damage in a flood in 1935, was was still basically sound despite having sat vacant more than 50 years.

Mr. Drewyer's in-depth expert testimony before the Buildings and Standards Commission in May provided detailed evidence to the Commission concerning the hazardous conditions of the building, including an unsafe sidewalk canopy and the one-story unstable addition, and made recommendations for addressing the public safety issues while preserving the building itself.

~ Our deepest appreciation goes to Stewart Title for generously underwriting the 1994 Good Brick Awards.

Eight winners received Good Brick Awards on September 22 at the awards ceremony held at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In addition, two special awards for education and preservation planning were also designated. The 1994 Good Brick Awards were co-sponsored by the Houston Business Journal and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The evening's activities were organized and coordinated by Special Events Committee co-chairmen Anita Garten and Phoebe Tudor. The awards presentation was written and directed by Barrie Scardino.

The award recipients were: Earl and Doreen James for the rehabilitation of their residence in the Woodland Heights; Metropolitan Community Church of the Resurrection for the rehabilitation and adaptive use of the McEvine House in Old Sixth Ward Historic District; St. Andrew's Episcopal Church for the restoration and rehabilitation of a Heights historic house; Trinity Episcopal Church for the preservation, restoration and expansion of its campus; Rice University for the preservation and stabilization of Lovett Hall; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for the restoration and rehabilitation of Bayou Bend, FKM Partnership, Ltd. and Carter and Cooley Company Delicatessen for the rehabilitation and adaptive use of the Brashear Building; and Randall Davis for his pioneering efforts in the residential conversion of historic commercial buildings in downtown Houston and Galveston.

Greater Houston Preservation Alliance 1994-95 Board of Directors The two new awards created this year were: the Heritage Education Award, which is being given to Phyllis Wheatley High School and the "Keep Five Alive" program for the Evergreen Negro Cemetery project; and the Preservation Planning Award, given to the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and the East End Area Chamber of Commerce for "Houston's Heritage Corridor: Buffalo Bayou East Sector Redevelopment Plan."

President David F. Beale, Attorney at Law President-Elect Minnette Boesel

Rolando M. Romo

Vice President, Membership Ann Caraway Ivins The Bane Pro Group, Inc.

Danni Sabota Greater Houston Convention and VISitors Bureau

Secretary Phoebe Tudor

Mercedes Terry

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Spencer Partnership Architects

Ex-Officio Margie Elliott

Past President Barry Moore, FAlA.

Executive Director

The Mathes Group

Charles D. Maynard, Jr.

Legal Counsel Martha Alexander

Martha Alexander!

Graphic Design Ltd.

Bart Truxillo Director Emeritus

Jeffrey S. Baloutine

Donald Skipwith Old Sixth Ward Historic District

Bank United

R. George Cunningham Cunningham Engineering Co. Robert R. Fretz, Jr. Fretz Construction Company Anita Garten

Preservation Alliance!

Individual Patron Corporate

$25 $100 $500

Address Correction Requested Return Postage Guaranteed

Family Business Student

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$40 $250 $10

(enclose copy of student 10)

Name _ __ Admess~

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Telephone_ _ ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ __ Mail with your check to: THE GREATER HOUSTON PRESERVATION ALLIANCE , 712 Main Street, Suite llO , Houston, Texas 77002-3207 Phone: 216-5000 L. ____ ___ _ _ .__ _ ...... . . ___ __ __ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ ._________ __ __ _

712 Main Street, Suite llO Houston, Texas 77002-3207

Timothy McAuliffe Market Square Economic Development Corporation

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The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance

Donna Kristaponis City of Houston Department of Planning & Development

Al Davis Harris County Historical Commission

Willie Lee Gay

~ The Historic Walking Tours Committee will take a month off in December and will return in January with a new schedule of walking tours.

Thanks to Committee Chairman Danni Sabota and all the tour docents for a most successful series in 1994.

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Simon R. Wiltz, A.IA Prairie View A&M Universl~ty

Treasurer Vicki Mcintosh

~ GHPA welcomes two new members recently elected to the Board of Directors. Danni Sabota is well known to many local preservationists as chairman of our Historic Walking Tours Committee. Danni works in the Communications Department of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau and has recently relocated her residence to the Old Sixth Ward Historic District.

Anita Garten is an economist with a background in architecture and urban planning. Before moving to Houston several years ago, Anita was active with the neighborhood association of one of the local inner city historic neighborhoods in Chicago. She is co-chairman of GHPA's Special Events Committee and also serves on the board of Houston Masterworks Chorus.

John 1. Nau III Budweiser!Silver Eagle Distributors

Vice President, Development James A. Tinsley

~ Thanks to Bank United for their gift to sponsor GHPA's 1994-95 series of Preservation Breakfast Talks. The first talk in the series, on September 7, was given by Mark Inabnit, publisher and editor-in-chief of Houston Life, about his magazine's "Liveable City Project." We appreciate the generosity of Bank United in sponsoring these talks and their dedication to improving the quality of life in Houston's inner-city neighborhoods.

Robert D. Miller Liddell Sapp Zivley Hill & LaBoon, LLP.

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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID

Houston, Texas Permit No. 712

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