SPORTS + OUTDOORS

On the second Sunday of every month at 2 p.m. (6 p.m. June through September; there is no tour in December), GHPA presents a docent-guided walking tour of an architecturally and/or historically significant area of Houston.

July 11: Main Street and Montrose Boulevard.

After Rice University and Hermann Park opened in the early 1910s, Houston's South End became an increasingly desirable neighborhood in which to live and work. The work of some of Houston's finest architects — William Ward Watkin's Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Joseph Finger's Plaza Apartment Hotel; and Alfred C. Finn's St. Paul's Methodist Church among them — became landmarks in the area. Today, the magnificent architecture, broad boulevards and oak allées combine to make the Museum District one of the city's favorite neighborhoods.

This tour includes the museum buildings along Montrose Boulevard, the charming neighborhoods of Chelsea Place, Cotswold Court and Colby Court, and the imposing churches of Main Street. Among the historic architecture are modern highlights including the Weldon Cafeteria, designed by MacKie & Kamrath; the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, by Gunnar Birkerts & Associates with Charles Tapley Associates; and the Museum of Fine Arts Administration Building by Carlos Jiménez and Kendall/Heaton Associates. We also see architect Joseph Finger's own home on Portland Place, a largely intact residential street developed in the 1920s.

Tickets will be sold beginning at 5:30 p.m. (please note the evening tour time for the summer) in fromt of the Jung Center, 5200 Montrose Blvd. Admission is $10 per person ($7 for GHPA members and students with valid ID), with a $2 discount for anyone who walks, bikes or takes public transportation to the tour. Free street parking is available in the neighborhood, but please remember to observe parking restrictions. The tour starting point is a short walk from MetroRail's Museum District Station. Reservations are not required. Restrooms will not be available.

Photo: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1924-26, William Ward Watkin; detail of a photo by Jim Parsons).