The Binz Architectural Walking Tour

To keep things cool, the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance is moving its monthly afternoon tours to a later time. “We’re trying to avoid having everybody on the tour die of heatstroke,” says Jim Parsons, a guide for July’s Binz Architectural Walking Tour. The roving lecture will focus on the historic homes along Caroline Street in the Museum District. The area was originally a neighborhood for those who wanted to live around the just-built Rice University and Hermann Park. One of the first houses, built in 1917, belonged to Will Clayton, who was not only part owner of one of the largest cotton brokerages in the world but also the Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs in WWII and architect of the Marshall Plan. His home is now the city’s Genealogical Library — and the starting point for today’s tour. Other interesting stops include Houston’s first Mormon church, which now houses the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center, and the house of William Ward Watkin, which, despite urban development, is still home to Watkin’s family. Tickets go on sale at 5:30 p.m.; tour starts at 6 p.m. Clayton Genealogical Library, 5300 Caroline. For information, call 713-216-5000 or visit www.ghpa.org. $7 to $10.
Sun., July 13, 6 p.m., 2008