Setting and Street Pattern
Downtown Houston covers about 1.84 square miles near the meeting point of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. It is bordered by East Downtown, Third Ward, Midtown, Fourth Ward, Sixth Ward, and Near Northside. Its streets form a strict grid of about 400 square blocks, angled southwest to northeast, while Buffalo Bayou crosses the northern end of the district.
Original Townsite
The district contains Houston’s original townsite at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, a place known as Allen’s Landing. After the Texas Revolution, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen purchased land and settled at the bayous. In 1836, surveyors platted a 62-block townsite shaped around Buffalo Bayou’s route.
The early townsite was cleared and drained by Mexican prisoners and Black slaves. By April 1837, Houston had a dock, a commercial district, the Republic of Texas capitol building, and an estimated population of 1,500. The first city hall stood at the present-day Market Square Park block, which also served as a major retail market.
Business and Civic Core
Downtown is the largest central business district in Houston and in Texas. It contains about 50 million square feet of office space, is the workplace of about 150,000 employees, and is home to nine Fortune 500 corporations. The district also contains Houston City Hall, Harris County criminal and civil courthouses, jails, a federal courthouse, and a federal prison.
Arts, Sports, and Parks
The Theater District includes major performing arts venues such as Alley Theatre, the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Jones Hall, and the Wortham Theater Center. Daikin Park is home to the Houston Astros, and Toyota Center is home to the Houston Rockets. Discovery Green sits on the east side of Downtown beside the George R. Brown Convention Center, while Buffalo Bayou’s banks include hike-and-bike trails and connected park space.
Buildings and Connections
Many buildings are linked by pedestrian tunnels and skywalks, and the tunnel system also functions as a subterranean mall.
Transit Hub
Downtown lies at the center of Houston’s light rail system, park-and-ride system, and metropolitan freeway network. METRO is headquartered in the district, and more than 100,000 people commute through Downtown each day. METRORail lines serve Main Street, the Convention District, and the Theater District.
What it is like
Downtown Houston is the birthplace of Houston and is bounded by the freeway ring around the urban core, including Interstate 10, Highway 69 and Interstate 45. It has state-of-the-art performing arts facilities, major government, banking and energy interests, the George R. Brown Convention Center, University of Houston Downtown, Discovery Green and Market Square Park.
Homes and housing
Downtown Houston is the birthplace of Houston and includes the Market Square Historic District, with some of the city’s oldest historic buildings. Housing includes starter apartments, warehouse loft conversions, penthouse luxury, and loft conversions in older, often vacant office and commercial buildings. Its modern boundaries were created by a ring of freeways built in the 1960s and 1970s, and the Main Street/Market Square TIRZ was created in 1995 to stimulate new residential development in the 9-block area around the Rice Hotel.
Sources: Downtown Houston (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA); houstontx.gov