6. The Kennedy Bakery Building, 813 Congress Avenue 1861

The area around Market Square Park has several historic buildings, most notably the Kennedy Bakery Building. Currently home to La Carafe bar (and said to be haunted), the structure is among the three oldest buildings downtown. Luckily it has avoided major restructuring and has managed to retain many of its original details, including decorative brickwork. In 1960, Harvin C. Moore rehabilitated the structure for original owner John Kennedy's great-grandson. An Irish immigrant, Kennedy was a slave-owner and businessman in Civil War-era Houston, with bakeries at several locations. Kennedy first had a trading post at the site, but lost that structure to a fire in 1847. Kennedy also had a grocery store, a gristmill, and thousands of acres in the county. His son-in-law was store owner W. L. Foley.

5. The Stuart Building, 304 Main Street 1880

One of a trio of buildings, each with a unique storefront, the Stuart Building is designed in the Victorian neo-Grec style

The architect is not known for the building, which was constructed in 1880.

The ground floor recently became the Little Dipper Bar, one of several ( Poison Girl, Antidote, and Black Hole) owned by Scott Walcott, Miriam Carrillo, Scott Repass and Dawn Callaway.

Inside the popular bar has exposed brick walls and a lush purple ceiling, not completely in sync with the building's exterior but not in disturbing contrast either.