Freedmen's Town Redevelopment Master Plan
Freedmen's Town Association, Houston, Texas

Freedmen's Town is an 84 block, 125 acre neighborhood located in the shadow of Downtown Houston. It holds the potential capacity for approximately 1,500 dwelling units. In 1985 a 40 block portion of Freedmen's Town was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District. The significance of the area is described in the National Register Nomination; "The Freedman's Town Historic District is a forty block residential area that represents all that remains of the oldest and one of the most important black communities in Houston. Founded just after Emancipation on the southern banks of Buffalo Bayou, the original Freedmen's Town settlement eventually grew to become the economic, spiritual, and cultural focus of Houston's Black community..."

Redevelopment Master Plan
This master plan was prepared for the Freedmen's Town Association (FTA) as a strategic planning tool for its effort to rebuild the community and neighborhood. The plan describes a redevelopment strategy consisting of a mix of rehabilitation and new construction anchored around the remaining successful enterprises, most of which are churches. The Master Plan consists of 5 key points:

1.  Redevelopment around existing
     activities
2.  Development of a variety of residential
     types
3.  Economic development of the
     neighborhood by encouraging small
     businesses
4.  Rehabilitation of existing buildings
5.  Compatible new construction.

Design Principles
Redevelopment, repair, and reconstitution of the existing urban fabric is the guiding design principle of the plan. Over time the difference between old and new will be an indistinguishable and transparent line. To achieve this goal, new development must follow the existing patterns and guidelines that surfaced during the analysis phase of the project. Those principal patterns are:
1.  Small blocks (250'x200')
2.  Narrow streets ( 30' ROW )
3.  1 and 2 story construction
4.  Variety and mix of building use and
      type
5.  Diversity of incomes and housing
     types
6.  A consistency of architectural
     vocabulary, materials, and methods

Master Plan

AIA Urban Design Honor Award, 1997, Houston Chapter American Institute of Architects
In the selection of the Freedman's Town Redevelopment Master Plan for a 1997 Urban Design Honor Award, for the Houston Chapter American Institute of Architects, the jury praised the architect's strategic plan that provides an approach to making decisions "about a kind of essential sort of American urban problem, a problem of populations that go un-served...and the use of historic preservation as {a means} to serve those populations."