Iwan Baan/Provided
The Ismaili Center Houston is opening to the public on Dec. 13, 2025.
After nearly 20 years in the making, Houston’s historic Ismaili Center — the first in the United States — is opening its doors to the greater Houston community.
Ismaili Center Houston will host a free opening event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, when Houstonians can tour the massive cultural center and see dance performances, live music and art installations.
Guests can also walk around the center’s 9 acres of gardens and courtyards. The center will have food trucks and a hot chocolate bar.
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Iwan Baan/Provided
The Ismaili Center Houston held an opening ceremony on Nov. 6, 2025.
“Our longstanding partnership with the Ismaili community has always been rooted in a shared belief in the power of landscape to foster understanding,” said Thomas Woltz, Senior Principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, one of the designers of the center. “In designing the Ismaili Center, Houston, we drew on centuries-old landscape principles and the ecological richness of Texas to create a campus that invites connection, curiosity, and a sense of shared purpose.”
The five-story center is 150,000 square feet and sits on 11 acres of land at the southeast corner of Allen Parkway and Montrose Boulevard, near Buffalo Bayou Park.
Ismailis are a branch of Shia Muslims who advocate for pluralism, social progress and service to societies. Ismailis are led by Aga Khan V, who took over as leader after the death of his father in February.
City officials and prominent Ismaili Muslim leaders held an opening ceremony in November. Houston Mayor John Whitmire praised the center as a “beacon of light surrounded by some of our most treasured neighborhoods and cultural institutions.”
His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V stood next to Whitmire in the opening ceremony.
“This building may be called an Ismaili Center,” he said at the time, “but it is not here for Ismailis only. It is for all Houstonians to use; a place open to all who seek knowledge, reflection, and dialogue.”
Iwan Baan/Provided
The Ismaili Center Houston held an opening ceremony on Nov. 6, 2025.
There are six other Ismaili Centers around the world – in the Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver along with Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Lisbon, Portugal; Dushanbe, Tajikistan; and London, England.
The Houston center was designed by Farshid Moussavi Architecture and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, in partnership with AKT II as engineers and DLR Group as architect and engineer of record. The grounds include art exhibitions, a black box theater, a café, classrooms and a prayer hall for Ismaili Muslims, among other features.