Historic Preservation Manual

City of Houston Planning and Development Department > Historic Districts > Avondale > Architectural Styles

Avondale East & West

Defining Features

This Historic District Profile was developed to help property owners. It explains the typical features of buildings found in Avondale East. This can be helpful when you are planning a project that would change your home’s exterior.

Many houses in Avondale East were designed by architects and custom-built for their original owners. That makes each house unique. It also means that each part of the house is important to the overall design.

Historic District designations are used to maintain the character of a neighborhood. Once an Historic District is created, certain rules apply to the entire neighborhood. These rules require that changes to properties in the District must be appropriate. In other words, the historic character of the property must stay the same.

Exterior changes must be approved in advance. The Planning Department can help with this process. If the project is approved, the property owner receives a Certificate of Appropriateness. In many Houston neighborhoods, deed restrictions require that the neighborhood civic association also approve changes to a property. The civic association’s regulations and standards may differ from those of the City. The information shown here refers only to City requirements. Property owners should check with their neighborhood association before beginning any project.

When planning a building project within the Avondale East Historic District, please refer to this chart. It shows which building elements are compatible and which are not. Definitions of common architectural terms can be found in the glossary.

Compatible Incompatible
Foundation
  • Raised pier and beam
  • Slab on grade
Front Porch
  • Front porch
  • At least 50% of building width (usually full-width)
  • At least 5 feet deep
  • May wrap around house
  • Fluted classical columns
  • Ionic or Corinthian capitals
  • Squared/tapered porch supports (Craftsman)
  • Brick porch support bases (Craftsman)
  • No porch or small porch
  • Turned porch supports (Queen Anne)
Roof
  • Gable, hip, or hybrid roof shapes
  • Medium or low pitch
  • Gable ornamentation
  • Wide boxed eave overhang or open eave overhang with exposed rafter tails
  • Dormers
  • Composition shingles
  • Dentils or classical eave moldings
  • Cupolas or towers
  • Slate or tile roof
  • Shed, flat, gambrel or mansard roof shapes
  • Steep pitch
Exterior Wall Cladding
  • Horizontal lapped, bevel, or drop wood siding
  • Standard patterned brick masonry
  • Patterned or plain rectilinear wood shingles
  • Stucco
  • Vertical siding
  • Corrugated metal
  • flat modular panels
  • half-timbering or patterned stick work
Front Door
  • Single door that faces street (door may face side on less than full-width front porches)
  • Double doors
  • Round fanlights
  • Pediments
  • Masonry arches
  • Pilasters Recessed panels
  • Glass lights
  • Sidelights
  • Rectilinear transom, often with a patterned pane
  • Single door that faces side property line
Windows
  • Large, vertically proportioned
  • Double-hung, single-hung, or casement
  • Wood or wood clad
  • May group (ribbon) two or three windows in a row
  • Patterned upper panes
  • Pediments above windows
  • Masonry arches
  • Fanlights
  • Horizontally proportioned
  • Aluminum
  • Large plate glass