Project Row Houses & Third Ward Art

In 1993, seven Black artists looked at a block and a half of derelict shotgun houses in the Third Ward — the kind of narrow, single-file cottages once dismissed as slum housing — and saw something else entirely. Led by Rick Lowe, they turned twenty-two of those little houses into Project Row Houses, part gallery, part community anchor, part living argument that art and neighborhood can be the same thing. This gentle walk starts among those famous rows and fans out into the surrounding Third Ward, where a great mural tradition, a legendary blues guitarist, and the murals of nearby Texas Southern all sit within a few blocks. It's a tour about creativity as a form of neighborhood care — art that stayed home, in the community it came from, instead of leaving for a downtown museum. Wear comfortable shoes, be respectful of the residents and the working art spaces, and take your time reading the small houses that started it all.