After the Historic Design and Review Commission approved the finding of historic significance for the Cade House at 705 E. Grayson in June, the case moved on to City Council for consideration on August 16th. We continued to support the landmark designation of this Colonial Revival house, which is associated with a significant architect and owner, as an especially fine example of the style.

Architect Lou Harrington designed Dr. C.C. Cade’s house, which was built in 1922. Early in his career, Harrington served as the local project manager for the Fort Worth firm of Sanguinet and Staats, working on the Gibbs Building, the Rand Building, and the T.C. Frost residence. As a principal of Harrington & Company, he also designed the Maverick Building at 400 E. Houston Street. Built in the same year as the Cade residence, this nine-story office/apartment building achieved listing on the National Register of Historic Places and recently underwent a renovation that took advantage of historic preservation tax incentives.

We were deeply disappointed that Council not only failed to recognize the historic significance of the Cade House, but also took away financial incentives for preservation by denying landmark designation.

In 2016, Council’s failure to designate architect C.T. Boelhauwe’s Westfort home (255 Brahan) paved the way for its demolition just two years prior to the creation of the Westfort Historic District. We had hoped the same short-sighted action would not repeat itself on Grayson Street.

The recently released Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force final report identifies five action items. Number three is: “increase affordable housing production, rehabilitation, and preservation.” Denying historic designations to eligible properties is not the way to reach this goal!