HOUSTON \u2014 A historic Houston mansion tied to East Texas lumber magnate John Henry Kirby was partially demolished Friday before city officials halted the work over missing permits.<\/p>\n
Crews began tearing down the Kirby Mansion at 2000 Smith Street in Midtown. <\/p>\n
Preservation Houston said roughly half the building was gone by the time a city inspector issued a stop-work order. The group said it had repeatedly asked the new owner to discuss preserving the home, documenting it or salvaging historic features, but received no response.<\/p>\n
Jim Parsons, Preservation Houston\u2019s program and communications director, told the Houston Chronicle: \u201cIt looks like he\u2019s gone ahead and made a move.\u201d<\/p>\n
The City of Houston told the Chronicle that inspectors confirmed demolition was underway without the required permit. A sewer-disconnection plumbing permit had been issued Oct. 14, but a city inspection on Oct. 20 found corrections that had not been resolved. <\/p>\n
The city said, \u201cDemolition work may not resume until the required permits and approvals have been obtained.\u201d<\/p>\n
KTRK-TV reported that a neighbor said the owner later obtained a permit, which could allow work to resume. The city\u2019s reported statement said required permits and approvals still had to be obtained.<\/p>\n
Preservation Houston said in its Oct. 30 statement that plans for a gas station at the site were already underway. Earlier reporting said the property\u2019s future use had not been confirmed, and records tied to the address did not establish what would replace the mansion.<\/p>\n
Parsons said the group had offered to document the house and salvage historic materials. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe could have arranged documentation, we could have arranged salvage so that there was a lasting record of this building and the materials don\u2019t just go to a landfill,\u201d he told the Chronicle.<\/p>\n
The building had no local, state or federal historic designation, according to Preservation Houston. <\/p>\n
KTRK reported that preservation advocates said the mansion hosted President George H.W. Bush and world leaders during the 1990 Economic Summit.<\/p>\n
A Houston mansion with East Texas roots<\/p>\n
The mansion began as a home built in 1894 for Houston businessman J.S. Price. <\/p>\n
Kirby bought the property in 1896, and architect James Ruskin Bailey remodeled it in 1926 into a 36-room Tudor Revival residence. Its features included a hand-carved oak staircase and paneling made from timber from Kirby\u2019s East Texas forests, Preservation Houston said. The house later served as the Houston-Harris County Red Cross headquarters.<\/p>\n
Kirby\u2019s connection to the region began in Tyler County. The Texas State Historical Association says he was born near Peachtree Village in 1860. He married Lelia Stewart of Woodville in 1883 and practiced law there for four years before moving to Houston. Kirby later became known as a lumberman and East Texas timberland owner.<\/p>\n
Kirby\u2019s name is also part of the history of Kirbyville in Jasper County. The town was first named Kirby for him. In 1895, a railroad reached the site where Kirby planned a community to help market lumber from his timber holdings. The name changed to Kirbyville after postal officials found another town called Kirby.<\/p>\n
Kirby Lumber Company at one time controlled more than 300,000 acres of East Texas pine forests and operated 13 sawmills, according to the Texas State Historical Association. The Texas Historical Commission\u2019s marker for Kirbyville credits Kirby and railroad partner R.P. Allen with founding the town after their Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City railroad reached the site.<\/p>\n
Facebook statement by Preservation Houston<\/p>\n
A heartbreaking day for Houston\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
This morning, demolition began at the historic Kirby Mansion without proper permit. Approximately half of the 132-year-old building was destroyed before a City of Houston inspector arrived and issued a stop-work order.<\/p>\n
Preservation Houston strongly condemns the unpermitted demolition of this irreplaceable landmark.<\/p>\n
For generations, the century-old building stood as a reminder of Houston\u2019s architectural heritage and the stories that shaped our city. Its loss is devastating, but our efforts are not over.<\/p>\n
We remain committed to exploring every opportunity to preserve, document or salvage what remains of this historic property.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re grateful to the community members, preservation advocates and journalists who have helped bring attention to the Kirby Mansion. Your voices matter.<\/p>\n
Houston can grow while honoring its history. We must continue advocating for both.<\/p>\n
Read our full statement and the latest developments: https:\/\/www.preservationhouston.org\/…\/unpermitted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 A historic Houston mansion tied to East Texas lumber magnate John Henry Kirby was partially demolished…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-482605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}