Near Northside Historic District

Near Northside is a compact neighborhood of modest houses roughly three-quarters of a mile northwest of downtown Houston. Bounded by Little White Oak Bayou, Hogan Street, Interstate 45 and Keene Street, it covers 33 full city blocks and parts of nine others. Most of its 286 buildings are wood-frame single-family homes built between about 1890 and the 1920s, with Queen Anne houses giving way to Craftsman bungalows, which make up about half the district. Streets are narrow with open ditches, old concrete street markers and mature live oaks. The neighborhood grew to house workers tied to the Southern Pacific rail shops and the port, helped by an electric streetcar line on Montgomery Avenue, now North Main Street, from 1892. Later freeway construction cut off its western edge. Of the buildings, 244 retain enough integrity to contribute. Two stand out individually: the Southern Pacific hospital of 1910-1911 and the Robert E. Lee Elementary School, designed by Alfred C. Finn. The district was recognized for its local significance in community development.