Warehouse District Architecture Walk

Preservation Houston is leading a Warehouse District Architecture Walk on Sunday, October 11, starting at Allen's Landing from 2:00 to 3:30 PM. It's a 90-minute, docent-guided walking tour that sticks to the exteriors of the district's industrial buildings, so you'll be seeing the architecture from the sidewalk rather than heading inside.

The tour's focus is the history of the Warehouse District, and that story starts with Buffalo Bayou. Nearby Frost Town was settled at a bend in the bayou before Houston was even founded in 1836, and the early Port of Houston at Allen's Landing later drew commerce and industry to the area. As railroads converged here from the 1850s, houses gave way to warehouses, factories, and other businesses serving a rapidly growing city. Many of the surviving industrial buildings date from between the 1880s and 1920s, so the walk covers a good stretch of the neighborhood's working life.

Since the 1980s, the area has shifted again. Artists, developers, and preservationists have been turning those former warehouses into studios, offices, and residential lofts, and that transition is part of what you'll see. The tour is an exterior walk, meaning you won't go inside any of the buildings, and there are no public restrooms along the route, so keep that in mind before you set out.

Advance tickets are required and nonrefundable, and Preservation Houston members can redeem a free Architecture Walks pass for the tour. It runs from 2:00 to 3:30 PM on Sunday, October 11, starting at Allen's Landing.