{{Short description|Development in Houston}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox organization | name = Project Row Houses | logo = Projectrowhouseslogo.png | type = Arts and culture organization | founded = 1993 | founders = Rick Lowe, James Bettison, Bert Long Jr., Jesse Lott, Floyd Newsum, Bert Samples, George Smith | location = Houston, Texas | origins = | key_people = | region_served = Third Ward | focus = Engaging neighbors, artists, and enterprises in collective creative action to help materialize sustainable opportunities in marginalized communities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://projectrowhouses.org/about/about-prh|title = About PRH}}</ref> | method = | revenue = | endowment = | num_volunteers = | num_employees = | num_members = | owner = | website = [https://projectrowhouses.org/ projectrowhouses.org] | dissolved = | footnotes = }}
thumb|Project Row Houses '''Project Row Houses''' is a development in the Third Ward area of Houston, Texas. Project Row Houses includes a group of shotgun houses restored in the 1990s.<ref name=SanAntonioExpressNews-ReallyGoodIdea-2003>{{cite news|last1=Davis|first1=Rod|title=Houston's really good idea Bus tour celebrates communities that forged a city|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SAEC&p_theme=saec&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0FCBCB6042BB9F95&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|accessdate=14 March 2016|work=San Antonio Express-News|date=3 August 2003}}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Eight houses serve as studios for visiting artists.<ref name=NYTimes-ProjectRowHouses-2006>{{cite news|last1=Kimmelman|first1=Michael|title=In Houston, Art Is Where the Home Is|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/arts/design/17kimm.html?pagewanted=all|accessdate=14 March 2016|work=The New York Times|date=17 December 2006}}</ref> Those houses are art studios for art related to African-American themes. A row behind the art studio houses single mothers.<ref name=SanAntonioExpressNews-ReallyGoodIdea-2003 />
== History == Rick Lowe, a native of Alabama and 2014 MacArthur "genius" grant winner, founded Project Row Houses in 1993 with James Bettison, Bert Long Jr., Jesse Lott, Floyd Newsum, Bert Samples, and George Smith.<ref name=Guernica-RickLowe-2014>{{cite journal|last1=Spector|first1=Nicole Audrey|title=Rick Lowe: Heart of the City|journal=Guernica|date=25 September 2014|url=https://www.guernicamag.com/daily/rick-lowe-heart-of-the-city/|accessdate=14 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chron.com/local/history/culture-scene/article/Project-Row-Houses-melds-art-and-community-in-the-7950310.php|title=Project Row Houses melds art and community in the Third Ward|last=Sewing|first=Joy|date=2016-05-27|website=Houston Chronicle|access-date=2019-03-22}}</ref> In 1990, according to Lowe, a group of high school students approached Lowe and asked him to create solutions to problems instead of creating works that tell the community about issues it is already aware of.<ref name=NYTimes-ProjectRowHouses-2006 /> Lowe and a coalition of artists purchased a group of 22 shotgun houses across two blocks that were built in 1930 and, by the 1990s, were in poor condition.<ref name=NYTimes-ProjectRowHouses-2006 /> <ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Gilkey |first=Eureka |date= |title=Commentary: Project Row Houses: Arts, Culture, and Collective Creative Action |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/705026 |journal=Journal of the Association for Consumer Research |language=en |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=334–335 |doi=10.1086/705026 |issn=2378-1815}}</ref>
Inspired by the work of John T. Biggers,<ref name=ChicagoTribune-Biggers-1996>{{cite news|last1=Gaines|first1=Sallie|title=Shotgun Houses Gave Artist A Prime Target|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/03/31/shotgun-houses-gave-artist-a-prime-target/|access-date=15 March 2016|work=Chicago Tribune|date=31 March 1996}}</ref> the group used seed money funds from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts to restore the houses.<ref name=NYTimes-ProjectRowHouses-2006 /> Corporate sponsor Chevron renovated the outside of several shotgun houses. The director of the Menil Foundation allowed Monday to be a day off of work for the employees so that they could help renovate the shotgun houses. Volunteers numbering in the hundreds fortified porches, removed trash and used needles from lots, and hung wallboard. Several individuals and families from the area and one local church "adopted" individual houses. Garnet Coleman adopted one house.<ref name=NYTimes-ProjectRowHouses-2006 /> The houses first opened in 1994.<ref name="HoustonChron-ProjectRowHouses-2009">{{cite news|last1=Gray|first1=Lisa|title=Project Row Houses endeavor branches into laundromats|url=http://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Project-Row-Houses-endeavor-branches-into-1732654.php|accessdate=14 March 2016|work=Houston Chronicle|date=27 September 2009}}</ref>
Deborah Grotfeldt created the concept of the Young Mothers Residential Program, which began operations in 1996; Grotfeldt had worked with Lowe since the Project Row Houses project started. <ref name=":1" /> The program gives single mothers one year of housing to allow them to finish their education and organize themselves <ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=January 26, 1996 |title=THIRD WARD REVIVAL/Renovated shotgun houses give young single mothers a place to grow |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=0D1C2A34C3EF45E0&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0ED7B4FE25836242 |url-status=live |work=Houston Chronicle}}</ref>.
As of 2009 the Project Row Houses campus had 40 properties. As of that year, some houses have art exhibitions and some houses provide housing space for resident artists. Newer low income housing blocks, using designs provided by the Rice Building Workshop, are now a part of the campus.<ref name=":1" /> The program for young mothers uses seven shotgun houses. A playground is adjacent to those houses. In addition, several shotgun houses built in the Victorian era, moved there earlier from historically black communities under development, are a part of the campus. The Eldorado Ballroom and the Bert Long sculpture "Field of Vision" are a part of the campus. Lisa Gray of the ''Houston Chronicle'' said during that year ''"Driving around, this writer found it's hard to tell where the Row Houses campus begins and ends."'' <ref name=HoustonChron-ProjectRowHouses-2009 />
== Housing == The '''Young Mothers Residential Program''' was a year-long program for women between ages 18-25. The participants for the program were recruited using a thorough screening process. The women were required to continue their formal education and attend counselling and parenting sessions during their residency. The program was financed by private funds. The five houses, 540 square feet each were designed free of charge by local interior designers for the women and their children.<ref name=":2" />
The School of Architecture at Rice University created the '''Rice Building Workshop (RBW)''' in collaboration with Project Row Houses to address the unavailability of affordable accommodation in Third Ward. RBW engaged in conversations with residents of Third Ward and participants of the Young Mothers Residential Program. The architecture students analysed the styles of the houses and the appeal of the neighbourhood and gained insights through their exchange with community residents. <ref name=":1" />
== Art == In 1994, Project Row Houses hosted its first eight residents artists each of whom received a compensation of $2,000.The artists' were David Magee, Tierney Malone, Annette Lawrence, Floyd Newsum, Jesse Lott, Colette Veasey, Vicki Meek and Steve Jones.<ref>Johnson, Patricia C. [https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=0D1C2A34C3EF45E0&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0ED7B382322E2CAD “Row Houses Close to Ready.”] ''Houston Chronicle'', 1994, p. 12. ''America’s News'', Accessed 15 Mar. 2026.</ref>
== Community Support == Project Row Houses has assisted entrepreneurs through a small business incubation program by providing premises at very low rent. This financial aid is aimed to faciliate the growth of small businesses. A product of the incubation program was Kindred Stories, a bookstore that moved to a new space at Project Row Houses in 2021. Another store Gulf Coast Cosmos Comicbook Co. opened right beside Kindred Stories in the same year. <ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=Third Ward welcomes two new bookstores |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=0D1C2A34C3EF45E0&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A16797DF2166E5EE0%2540NewsBank-185D45C72AA2507A%25402459512-185D45F0E1C3951C%254079-185D45F0E1C3951C%2540/hlterms%3AProject%2520Row%2520Houses |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2025, Project Row Houses also completed a $9.7 million renovation for the Eldorado Ballroom. The ballroom was donated to Project Row Houses by its owner in 1999. <ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Eldorado Ballroom's revival returns music, art and community to Houston neighbourhood |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=0D1C2A34C3EF45E0&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A16797DF2166E5EE0%2540NewsBank-1A14FF546DB5784D%25402460846-1A14FF54753789F7%25400/hlterms%3AProject%2520Row%2520Houses |url-status=live |work=Houston Chronicle}}</ref>
Small businesses receiving mentorship through the Business Residency Program in 2025 include Third Ward Blooms, Piano Vibes, Back to Naturel and Come Bee Well House.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Third Ward carried city's struggle, hopes |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=0D1C2A34C3EF45E0&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A16797DF2166E5EE0%2540NewsBank-1A50FF10065DA6AC%25402461038-1A544AD260C7084F%254014-1A544AD260C7084F%2540/hlterms%3AProject%2520Row%2520Houses |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Education== Children living in the houses attend schools in the Houston Independent School District.<ref>"[https://projectrowhouses.org/contact/ Contact]." Project Row Houses. Retrieved on April 22, 2018. "Project Row Houses 2521 Holman St. Houston, TX 77004"</ref> Zoned schools include Blackshear Elementary School,<ref>"[http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Blackshear_ES.pdf Blackshear Elementary School Attendance Zone]." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on April 21, 2018.</ref> Cullen Middle School,<ref>"[http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Cullen_MS.pdf Cullen Middle School Attendance Zone]." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on April 21, 2018.</ref> and Yates High School.<ref>"[http://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/domain/32468/boundarymaps/Yates_HS.pdf Yates High School Attendance Zone]" Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on April 21, 2018.</ref> Students were previously zoned to Ryan Middle School before 2013;<ref name="RyanMap">"[http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/RyanMS.pdf Ryan Middle Attendance Zone] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630001236/http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/SchoolBoundaryMaps/RyanMS.pdf |date=2007-06-30 }}." ''Houston Independent School District''</ref> students were reassigned to Cullen after it closed.<ref>Mellon, Ericka. "[http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/HISD-to-close-Ryan-tables-plan-to-merge-two-high-4338067.php HISD will close Ryan, tables plan to merge two high schools]." ''Houston Chronicle''. March 7, 2013. Retrieved on March 14, 2013. "Ryan, the district's smallest middle school with 263 students, will close at the end of this academic year. The students will attend Cullen, which is 4 miles away."</ref> Beginning in 2018 the magnet middle school Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan also serves as a boundary option for students zoned to Blackshear, Lockhart, and MacGregor elementary schools.<ref>"[https://www.houstonisd.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=51135&dataid=220863&FileName=051018OA_POST.pdf AGENDA Board of Education Meeting May 10, 2018]." Houston Independent School District. Retrieved on October 12, 2018. F1 p. 86/135.</ref>
== Funding == In 2006, the Houston City Council gave Project Row Houses a grant of $975,000.<ref name="HoustonChronicle-CityCouncilFunding-2006">{{cite news|title=A bigger canvas: Project Row Houses receives almost $1 million to continue its visionary mission|url=http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/A-bigger-canvas-Project-Row-Houses-receives-1527964.php|accessdate=14 March 2016|work=Houston Chronicle|date=20 December 2006}}</ref>
MacKenzie Scott, former wife of Jeff Bezos and her second husband Dan Jewett named Project Row Houses as a beneficiary of their charitable gifts in 2021. The amount has not been disclosed.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Big gifts have a big impact |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=0D1C2A34C3EF45E0&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A16797DF2166E5EE0%2540NewsBank-19BB051457D5972F%25402460583-19BD07AE1B35125E%254068-19BD07AE1B35125E%2540/hlterms%3AProject%2520Row%2520Houses |url-status=live}}</ref>
== Resident alumni of Artist Rounds == * Terry Adkins<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Round 29 |url=https://projectrowhouses.org/rounds/round-29/ |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=Project Row Houses |language=en-US}}</ref> * Edgar Arceneaux<ref>{{Cite web |title=Round 9 |url=https://projectrowhouses.org/rounds/round-9/ |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=Project Row Houses |language=en-US}}</ref> * Michelle Barnes<ref>{{Cite book|title=Collective creative actions : Project Row Houses at 25|others=Dennis, Ryan N., Jackson-Dumont, Sandra.|year=2018|isbn=978-0-692-12642-4|location=Houston, TX|oclc=1060194912}}</ref> * William Cordova<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Round 23 |url=https://projectrowhouses.org/rounds/round-23/ |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=Project Row Houses |language=en-US}}</ref> * Erika DeFreitas<ref>{{Cite web |last=Houses |first=Project Row |date=2015-02-23 |title=Round 42: The One and the Many: A Self-Portrait in Seven Parts |url=https://projectrowhouses.org/round-42-the-one-and-the-many-a-self-portrait-in-seven-parts/ |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=Project Row Houses |language=en-US}}</ref> * Brendan Fernandes<ref>{{Cite web |title=Round 27 |url=https://projectrowhouses.org/rounds/round-27/ |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=Project Row Houses |language=en-US}}</ref> * Coco Fusco<ref>{{Cite web |title=Round 32 |url=https://projectrowhouses.org/rounds/round-32/ |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=Project Row Houses |language=en-US}}</ref> * Charles Gaines<ref name=":3" /> * Leslie Hewitt<ref name=":4" /> * Ayana Jackson * Ayanna Jolivet McCloud * Rodney McMillian * Charles Huntley Nelson * Mendi & Keith Obadike * Lovie Olivia * Robert Pruitt * Kameelah Janan Rasheed * Martine Syms * Tatyana Fazlalizadeh * Autumn Knight * Otobong Nkanga * Tricia Ward * Question Bridge: Black Males ( Chris Johnson, Bayete Ross Smith, Hank Willis Thomas and Kamal Sinclair) * [https://www.in-situ.org.uk In-Situ], [http://www.williamtitley.org William Titley], Kerry Morrison, and Paul Hartley
== Honors == * 1997: Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence silver medal<ref name="BrunerFoundation-1998">{{cite book|last1=Farbstein|first1=Jay|last2=Wener|first2=Richard|last3=Axelrod|first3=Emily|title=Visions of Urban Excellence: 1997 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence|date=1998|publisher=Bruner Foundation|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-1-890-28602-6|url=http://www.brunerfoundation.org/rba/pdfs/1997/1997_Visions%20of%20Urban%20Excellence.pdf|accessdate=25 September 2014|oclc=608115343}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite news|last1=Greenberg|first1=Mike|title=Project ROW Houses - Neighborhood blight becomes neighborhood hope in Houston's Third Ward|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SAEC&p_theme=saec&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAFE76C42AA81FA&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|accessdate=15 March 2016|work=San Antonio Express-News|date=6 August 1995}} * {{cite news|last1=Gaines|first1=Sallie|title=Shotgun Houses Gave Artist A Prime Target|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/03/31/shotgun-houses-gave-artist-a-prime-target/|access-date=15 March 2016|work=Chicago Tribune|date=31 March 1996}} * {{cite book|last1=Farbstein|first1=Jay|last2=Wener|first2=Richard|last3=Axelrod|first3=Emily|title=Visions of Urban Excellence: 1997 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence|date=1998|publisher=Bruner Foundation|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-1-890-28602-6|url=http://www.brunerfoundation.org/rba/pdfs/1997/1997_Visions%20of%20Urban%20Excellence.pdf|accessdate=25 September 2014|oclc=608115343}} * {{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Patricia C.|title=Administrator admits stealing from Project Row Houses|url=http://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Administrator-admits-stealing-from-Project-Row-1565668.php|accessdate=15 March 2016|work=Houston Chronicle|date=19 November 2006}} * Sewing, Joy. "[http://www.chron.com/local/history/culture-scene/article/Project-Row-Houses-melds-art-and-community-in-the-7950310.php Project Row Houses melds art and community in the Third Ward]." ''Houston Chronicle''. Friday, May 27, 2016.
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://projectrowhouses.org/ Project Row Houses] * ''[http://www.thirdwardtx.com Third Ward TX]'' – documentary on Project Row Houses {{Portal|Texas|United States|Visual arts}} {{coord|29.7320|-95.3652|type:landmark_region:US-TX|display=title}} {{Third Ward, Houston}}
Category:Houses in Houston Category:African-American culture Category:Third Ward, Houston