Main Street/Market Square Historic District

This twelve-block area of downtown Houston lies on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou, centered on Main Street. It contains fifty-two contributing buildings and one structure, the 1913 Main Street Viaduct, a reinforced concrete arch bridge that was the longest span in Texas when built. Twenty-four of the buildings date from 1858 to 1900, and the rest from 1901 to 1935. Styles run from modest brick stores to ornate Victorian commercial buildings, Beaux Arts banks and office towers, and early 1930s Moderne storefronts. The district also includes Allen's Landing, Houston's earliest steamboat landing, and Market Square, site of the city markets and city halls from 1839 to 1939. The area served as the city's commercial, financial, retail and entertainment center until banks and shops moved south in the mid-twentieth century. Demolition for parking lots followed, but restoration of several buildings and creation of parks at both historic sites have since taken place. Twenty buildings are classed as non-contributing.