Please note that advance ticket purchase is required for this walking tour. Scroll down or click here to register.
The area now known as Midtown originally developed as farmland on the outskirts of Houston, then was transformed into the upscale South End residential district as the city expanded to the south around the turn of the 20th century. Over the years, South End residents moved to newer suburban neighborhoods and their grand homes were demolished to make way for office and retail buildings, apartments and parking lots.
A few remnants of the old South End survive today, including a handful of homes and neighborhood institutions such as Trinity Episcopal Church, the former South End Junior High (later San Jacinto High School and now Houston Community College’s Central Campus) and Congregation Beth Israel’s 1925 temple (now HCC’s Heinen Theatre). Today the neighborhood also features office and apartment buildings built in the first half of the 20th century; remnants of Main Street’s pre-World War II retail strip; and prominent new projects such as MATCH, the Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston.
Our 90-minute, docent-guided walking tour will explore the neighborhood’s history, visiting some sites that are reminders of South End glamour and others that show how Midtown is transforming into a modern urban residential and cultural center.
This is an exterior architecture tour only. The tour will not go inside any buildings. There are no public restrooms along the tour route.
About the tour
Admission is $10 per person for the general public ($7 for Preservation Houston members and students.) Children 11 years old and under are admitted free.
Advance ticket purchase is required. Reservations are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. We are not able to accommodate walk-ups the day of the tour. There are no refunds for tour reservations.
Registrants will receive parking and check-in information via e-mail.
Face masks are optional for all fully vaccinated individuals, including docents. We require that tourgoers who are not fully vaccinated remain masked at all times during the tour, including at check in. This policy may change based on recommendations from the CDC and local health officials.
In the event of inclement weather that prevents the tour from being offered as planned, we will notify registrants as far in advance as possible about their options to attend a rescheduled tour or transfer their reservations to another Preservation Houston tour.
Reserve your tickets now
Do you have an Architecture Walks pass?
If you have joined Preservation Houston and received a pass for a free Architecture Walk since February 2020, you may redeem the pass for admission to this tour. E-mail us and we'll be happy to help.
Passes are redeemable subject to ticket availability.
This program is made possible with funding from Humanities Texas and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the federal ARP Act.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.