Historic Oaks at Allen Parkway Village

The Historic Oaks at Allen Parkway Village mixed-income housing complex in downtown Houston, Texas is the centerpiece of a comprehensive urban revitalization demonstration program funded by HUD and carried out by the Housing Authority of the City of Houston. The two inner-city neighborhoods to be rebuilt (Allen Parkway Village and Freedmen’s Town) were both listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with Allen Parkway Village recognized as a landmark example of World War II-era public housing design, and Freedmen’s Town, founded by freed slaves during the 1870s, renowned for its African-American history and housing style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

As the lead cultural resource management consultant for this nationally recognized project, PBS&J’s cultural resources division provided comprehensive federal and state regulatory compliance services for cultural resources affected within the two historic districts. These services included archaeological survey and cemetery removal, historic building and landscape stabilization, historic building rehabilitation and new construction guidelines, and regulatory agency coordination. With more than 80 buildings documented, the Historic Oaks at Allen Parkway Village was one of the largest Historic American Buildings Survey projects conducted.

During the demolition phase, PBS&J archaeologists identified a three- to four-acre cemetery that dated back to the late 1800s, and the extensive excavation resulted in more than 400 archaeological features being identified. The project evolved to include further National Register of Historic Places nomination and Historic Preservation Tax Credit services.