Magnolia Ballroom becomes protected landmark

Here's some good news for those of us interested in keeping some of Houston's past around: In a couple of weeks, the Magnolia Ballroom building downtown will become the first commercial building in Houston to be a protected city landmark. City Council created the protected landmark designation last year; under it, protected properties may never be relocated, unsympathetically altered or demolished. Property owners have to apply and meet certain criteria to have their structures named protected landmarks, so it's not something that'll happen to anyone who doesn't want it — and though the designation probably won't spread like wildfire in developer-friendly Houston, it's nice to have some protection offered for buildings like the Magnolia Ballroom.

The building, at Franklin and Milam, was built in 1912 as the tap room and executive offices for the Houston Ice & Brewing Co. (KHOU says the building is 113 years old, but ... nah). It survived the floods of 1929 and 1935 — the 1935 one caused a big part of the brewery complex to collapse into Buffalo Bayou — and even made it through dereliction in the '60s. That was when preservationist Bart Truxillo bought the building and restored it; today, it houses the Brewery Tap downstairs and the ballroom upstairs. And it'll be around for generations more Houstonians to appreciate:

“It’s a very big deal for Houston because we’ve never had that kind of protection. Other cities across the country have had it for decades. This is the first permanent protection we’ve had for historic buildings in Houston,” said David Bush with Greater Houston Preservation Alliance.

If only more of our significant buildings were protected ...