Elder Street Artists Lofts

There is no Artspace project which sits on land with greater historical interest than the Elder Street Artist Lofts. A municipal cemetery was established on the site in the 1840s, and over the next few decades thousands of people were buried here. The cemetery was not maintained, however, and in the early 1920s the Houston City Council decided to build a new municipal hospital on the site.

Completed in 1924 and long known as the Jefferson Davis Hospital, the building is a handsome red brick structure in the Classical Revival style. Houston’s rapid growth soon rendered it inadequate, and in 1938 a new hospital replaced it. Over the years, the building housed a variety of tenants, but it stood vacant for two decades before Artspace entered the picture.

Completed in 2005, this $6.3 million project houses 34 live/work units, many of which offer spectacular views of the downtown skyline. The building’s original terrazzo floors, high ceilings and large window openings all were retained. One feature of the project is a partial “green” roof — the first Artspace project to feature this environmentally sustainable amenity.