Houston Heights: Victorian Boulevard & Bungalows

In 1891 a group of Omaha investors bought 1,700 acres of high ground northwest of Houston, ran an electric streetcar line out to it, and laid out a town they called Houston Heights — named for the twenty-three feet of elevation that lifted it above the swampy city below. Down the middle they drew a wide, tree-shaded esplanade, Heights Boulevard, and along it and the numbered streets nearby they built the gingerbread Victorians, foursquares, and Craftsman bungalows that still give the neighborhood its storybook feel. Houston annexed the Heights in 1918, but it never lost its own identity. This walk strolls the boulevard and the blocks just off it, past the old city hall and fire station, the woman's club, the churches, and the porches that made this Houston's first true suburb. Look for the deep front porches and decorative brackets — this is a neighborhood built for sitting outside on a summer evening.