San Felipe Courts Historic District (Boundary Decrease)

San Felipe Courts, later called Allen Parkway Village, is a public housing complex west of downtown Houston, built between 1941 and 1944. It was laid out on a 37-acre site in parallel rows of brick-faced buildings separated by pedestrian courtyards. Redevelopment led to the demolition of about three-quarters of the complex under a Programmatic Agreement. What remains is sixteen two- and three-story housing blocks, two public buildings, courtyards and two open recreation areas. The buildings share flat concrete roofs, horizontal lines, buff and chocolate brown brick, terra cotta trim and metal casement windows, reflecting Bauhaus influence. The complex was considered the largest public housing project in Texas in the decade after the 1937 National Housing Act. It was also designated Defense Housing shortly before the United States entered World War II. The revised district was found to keep enough of its character to convey its architecture, planning and social history, although the interiors have been stripped and the buildings are vacant.