The State of Fort Worth Preservation
by Kevin Buchanan
As a followup to Steve’s recent post about the Will Rogers Memorial Center, I thought it would be useful to look at some examples of where our city stands in terms of historical preservation. While it’s true that Fort Worth still has quite a bit of its historic structures intact, you’ll soon see that a lot of that is due to little more than good luck.
Historic preservation laws and zoning is a complex area, but essentially, here in Fort Worth it all boils down to our city’s three designations:
- Demolition Delay
- Historic & Cultural Landmark
- Highly Significant Endangered
Basically, Historic & Cultural Landmark and Highly Significant Endangered are the big ones, the ones that say “thou shalt not tear down this building.” Demolition Delay is a much more lax, fairly toothless designation. In essence, it states that you can tear down the building, but only after you’ve waited 180 days from the time you file the demolition paperwork. During that 180-day period, you must hold a meeting with interested parties to find alternatives to demolition. Catch is, the owner can easily just set the sales price of the building sky high, keeping any interested parties at bay - or, they can wait until day 179, have the meeting, and tear the building down the day after.
What’s surprising, given Fort Worth’s amazing stock of historic and significant buildings, is that very few have any historic designation at all - and those few that do, more often than not, have the fairly pointless Demolition Delay designation. You’d be shocked at some of the buildings that have little to no protection at all.
Which is why I’m doing this list. Understand, I’m going to do downtown by itself at this point, just to keep things simple. There are many incredible historic buildings downtown, but a great many of them are completely unprotected from the wrecking ball.
Let’s start with buildings that have the city’s highest protection, Highly Significant Endangered. In no particular order:
Texas & Pacific Warehouse - W. Lancaster & Jennings, built 1931
Texas & Pacific Terminal - 221 W. Lancaster, built 1931
Ashton Depot - 1501 Jones, built 1900
Santa Fe Depot (former Rail Market, now University of Texas at Arlington Fort Worth Center) - 1401 Jones, built 1938
Flatiron Building - 1000 Houston, built 1907
714 Main - 714 Main (of course), built 1920
Ashton Hotel - 610 Main, built 1915
Winfree Building - 608 Main, built 1890
Blackstone Hotel (now Courtyard by Marriott) - 601 Main, built 1929
Tindall Records Building - 801 Grove, built 1911
Cotton Depot - 555 Elm, built 1915
Knights of Pythias Hall - 900 E. 2nd, built 1925
On Historic & Cultural Landmark, we’ve got:
Fort Worth Water Treatment Plant
Eddleman-McFarland House - 1110 Penn, built 1899
Central Fire Station - 1000 Cherry, built 1930
Lone Star Gas Building - 908 Monroe
Public Safety & Courts Building (old City Hall) - 1000 Throckmorton, built 1938
Greater St. James Baptist Church - 210 Harding, built 1913
Historic Electric Building - 410 West 7th, built 1929
Houston Place Lofts - 910 Houston, built 1906
Kress Building - 604 Main, built 1936
Charles E. Nash Elementary - 401 Samuels, built 1927
Pollack-Capps House - 1120 Penn, built 1899
Red Goose Shoes - 306 Houston, built 1903
Sinclair Building - 512 Main, built 1930
Woolworth Building - 501 Houston, built 1926
YWCA - 512 West 4th, built 1928
First Christian Church - 612 Throckmorton, built 1914
Heading into the lightweight Demolition Delay, we have the following. Remember, all that would stand between these buildings and demolition is a 180-day delay and one meeting:
Fort Worth Public Market - 1400 Henderson, built 1930
United States Post Office - 251 West Lancaster, built 1933
Masonic Temple - 1100 Henderson, built 1931
HealthSouth Rehabilitation - built 1929
Packard Dealership - 1204 West 7th, built 1925
First United Methodist Church - 800 West 5th, built 1930
YMCA - 512 Lamar, built 1924
United States Courthouse - 501 West 10th, built 1933
Neil P. Anderson Building - 411 West 7th, built 1921
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Building - 400 West 7th, built 1920
Fair Building (aka Commerce Building) - 307 West 7th, built 1930
Oil & Gas Building - 309 West 7th, built 1954
Fort Worth Club - 306 West 7th, built 1926
Petroleum Building - 210 West 6th, built 1927
Bob Simpson Building - 711 Houston, built 1910
W. T. Waggoner Building - 810 Houston, built 1919
Barber’s Book Store - 215 West 8th, built 1910
Atelier Building - 209 West 8th, built 1905
Thompson’s Book Store - 900 Houston, built 1910
Shelton Building - 901 Houston, built 1900
Peters Brothers Hats - 909 Houston, built 1917
Bryce Building - 909 Throckmorton, built 1910
Miller’s Mutual Fire Insurance - 900 Monroe, built 1920
St. Patrick’s Cathedral/St. Ignatius Academy - 1206 Throckmorton, built 1888
Hotel Texas (now Hilton Fort Worth) - 815 Main, built 1921
STS Building - 515 Houston, built 1925
Burk Burnett Building - 500 Main, built 1914
Sanger Lofts - 410 Houston, built 1929
Fakes Building - 406 Houston, built 1929
Jett Building - 400 Main, built 1902
Land Title Block - 111 East 4th, built 1889
Knights of Pythias Castle Hall - 315 Main, built 1901
Conn Building - 310 Main, built 1906
Western Union Building - 314 Main, built 1930
Old Plaza Hotel - 301 Main, built 1908
Domino Building - 311 Main, built 1885
Jarvis Building - 506 Main, built 1884
Morris Building - 308 Main, built 1906
Sid Richardson Museum - 309 Main, built 1885
Weber Building - 302 Main, built 1885
Binyon-O’Keefe Warehouse - 800 Calhoun, built 1916
Winfield Place - Calhoun & 8th, built 1919
Nash Hardware Company - 401 East 8th, built 1910
Old Fellow Lodge - 415 East 6th, built 1925
Fire Station No. 1 - 215 Commerce, built 1907
Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church - 116 Elm, built 1912
Morning Chapel C.M.E. Church - 903 East 3rd, built 1938
Some fairly conspicuous buildings are absent from the list. The Tarrant County Courthouse, one of the symbols of Fort Worth? Unprotected. The old City National Bank building (home of Billy Miner’s)? Unprotected. It’s the same story in, for example, the Cultural District - the Will Rogers center, as we’ve discussed, is unprotected, as is the Amon Carter Museum. The Kimbell, apparently, is only on demolition delay.
People these days are more sensitive than ever about protecting and improving our natural environment, but far too many people don’t even think about protecting and improving our built environment. Improving through, from my perspective, quality smart growth instead of sprawl, and protecting by designating and saving our historic structures. It is important for our community and our sense of place to preserve the quality structures that tie us with our history, and the fact that so many of Fort Worth’s remarkable architecture is either not protected at all, or given the bare minimum of protection with the lacking Demolition Delay designation, is very unfortunate.
That’s my perspective, however. What’s yours?
It was...
12 Comments, Comments or Pings
Steph
So, am I right in assuming that the gorgeous post office on Lancaster isn’t protected? Someone needs to get on that, stat.
Jan 15th, 2008
Kevin
Steph,
The Post Office is only Demolition Delay. I accidentally left it out entirely in the original post, but have added it now.
Jan 15th, 2008
John Peter Smith
Since I get Charter Cable, I also get the city channels. Occasionally in flipping from ESPN to The History Channel I’ll stop at the broadcast of the meeting of the Landmarks Commission. After watching a few residents of Fairmount grovel before the powers-that-be for permission to replace a broken window or door, I’ve decided that I will never purchase a property on any of those preservation lists.
Perhaps the reason so few historic properties are “protected” is that the owners fear the onerous regulations that such protection brings?
Jan 15th, 2008
Kevin
Fairmount’s historic status is fairly well publicized - I’d imagine that most residents are probably well aware of the regs. The end result is that Fort Worth has a nearly perfectly preserved streetcar suburb and one of the largest (some have said THE largest) historic bungalow districts in the United States. I think it’s worth some tighter regulations if we succeed in not plowing our heritage into the ground.
(And of all things, the word “protected” seems to me to be least deserving of scare quotes.)
Jan 15th, 2008
Suzette
Thank you, once again Kevin, for your invaluable work for this great City. As I’ve said before, we are so lucky to have you here. I will certainly write my letters to the Historic Commission. Let us know of anything else that would help our future, in regards to our precious past here in Cowtown.
Jan 15th, 2008
John Peter Smith
Kevin:
You raised the very important question of why is it that so few of Cowtown’s Historic buildings have little to no protection at all. I’m suggesting that one reason may be overly zealous regulations.
I’m specifically thinking of Arlington Heights. As I recall, the city suggested a Historic District for that area years ago. However, after seeing what kind of red-tape such a designation entails, the residents screamed in protest and the subject was dropped.
I’m all for historic preservation. But it is worth asking if perhaps the perception of too much red-tape isn’t at least partly responsible for the low number of historic buildings that are on the protected list.
Jan 16th, 2008
buck
If you want to protect the character of a neighborhood, you only need a Preservation District.
That’s a historic district without the nitpicky rules and limits on remodeling — but also without the tax break.
Jan 17th, 2008
Suzette
Guess it wouldn’t hurt to get involved in this organization or at least send them some emails. The website didn’t tell how much memberships are (which makes me believe I can’t afford one). Statements below are from http://www.historicfortworth.org
“How do we ensure that Fort Worth’s landmarks are here tomorrow? Join us at Historic Fort Worth and become part of the voice for preservation in Fort Worth.”
For more information regarding membership, please contact us:
817.336.2344
-or-
Email us at Corry_Smith@historicfortworth.org.
Jan 30th, 2008
C T Scott
Where can I find out about the Old Fellow lodge @ 415 E 6th built 1925?
Dec 3rd, 2008
VinnyV28
What an odd list.
For one thing - the massive T&P building may be highly significant, but one wouldn’t know that if they were just passing through Fort Worth - they would probably assume that it’s just some old, deserted building that’s allowed to take up space because no one really knows what to do with it. And they probably wouldn’t be too far off in that assumption.
I also wonder if there is something that is stopping some of these from being listed higher. Perhaps most owners don’t want the hassle of red tape as JPS suggested because they feel they will not vacate anytime soon.
Finally, I think some of these buildings may be flat-out protected by public sentiment or “common sense”. I don’t see the Feds giving up the Post Office anytime soon. The Masonic Temple is probably pretty well protected by its members as the office buildings are by the companies that inhabit them and I really doubt you will be able to pry the Cathedral away from us Catholics without a substantial fight.
In general, I think many if not most of these buildings will be around, even if the companies that own them change hands. The buildings with history that are most easily forgotten, destroyed, or modified beyond all recognition are the ones that do not reside in downtown. The Stripling and Cox building on East Lancaster and Ayers, the Grain Silos that are all over the place and are really a testament to the blue-collar workers that helped build this city. The Handley and old Tandy areas of East Fort Worth in general have or had great history - including the William James Elementary school as well as TWU.
I think if we as FW residents want to unite to preserve, then we should be willing to learn about and care for all parts of the city that need attention.
Dec 5th, 2008
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