{"nrhp_refnum":"94000628","name":"Isabella Court","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3909--3917 S. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.736527453000065,"lon":-95.38074952999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-06-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Spanish Colonial Revival mixed-use building at 3909-3917 South Main Street in the Midtown area of Houston, Texas, completed in 1929 to a design by William D. Bordeaux. It has ground-floor retail and office space and 16 apartments around a courtyard.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is an excellent and rare surviving Houston example of a multi-use Spanish Colonial Revival building, meeting Criterion C in architecture at a local level. It also recalls the South Main corridor that once linked downtown Houston to the cultural area near Hermann Park and Rice University. It is a work of architect William D. Bordeaux, commissioned by businessman Pierre L. Michael.","narrative":"Isabella Court is a three-story apartment and shop building on South Main Street in Houston's Midtown, completed in May 1929. William D. Bordeaux designed it for businessman Pierre L. Michael. White stucco walls, a red pantile roof, wrought iron balconies and a tall corner tower give it a Spanish Colonial Revival character. Sixteen one-bedroom apartments open onto a central courtyard with arcades, a small pool and a niche of receding arches, while the ground floor held retail and office tenants. Few exterior changes have occurred beyond added skylights and replaced canvas awnings, and many original interior fixtures remain. The building was listed for its architecture. It is described as an excellent and rare surviving Houston example of a multi-use building in this style, and it recalls the South Main corridor, where merchants adopted Spanish-inspired design in the late 1920s to link downtown with the growing southern districts. Restoration work was under way at the time of listing.","period_of_significance":"1929","architect_builder":"Bordeaux, William D.","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Spanish Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Building in good condition and continuously inhabited; exterior and apartment interiors are being restored as units become vacant, and ground-floor retail space is being restored for rental.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.762368-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/36/9723/40972336/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/94000628.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000628/b05c50f4ab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000628/b05c50f4ab-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"WhisperToMe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IsabellaCourtHouston.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">WhisperToMe</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IsabellaCourtHouston.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972336","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Court","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6077961"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/isabella-court-94000628/"}