LITERATURE + LECTURES

On the second Sunday of every month, GHPA presents a docent-guided walking tour of an architecturally and/or historically significant area of Houston.

Sunday, July 10: 20th Century Main Street Walking Tour.

From the neoclassical Union National Bank Building (1912) to the starkly modern First City National Bank Building (1960), past the Art Deco and mid-century modern homes of Sakowitz Bros. Department Store, to walk down Main Street is to witness a timeline of Houston’s business development and changing architectural tastes. Join us on Sunday, July 10, as we explore Houston's traditional business, retail and entertainment heart on a 90-minute guided walking tour of Main Street's 20th century architecture.

Our tour will trace Main Street's role as Houston's center of activity for much of the city's history, visiting early business buildings and skyscrapers, retail stores, banks and the sites of its movie palaces. Highlights include the 1929 Gulf Building (now the JPMorgan & Chase Co. Building), the former First City tower, the city's first modernist skyscraper; and Kenneth Franzheim's landmark 1947 Foley's (now Macy's) department store.

Image: Postcard of Main Street, looking north from Capitol Avenue, 1920s (GHPA file).