Immigrants who hail from South Asia, the Middle East and South America have created new communities in Houston while transforming abandoned structures in the city into vibrant hubs for commerce and community gatherings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The city\u2019s rapid growth has been fueled in part by these and other immigrant groups who are making their own unique mark on the city\u2019s culture, history and architecture. However, their contributions aren\u2019t widely known outside their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis kind of urban revitalization often flies under the radar,\u201d said Priya Jain, Texas A&M assistant professor of architecture, who is tracing the architectural impact of urban, immigrant culture. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get talked about in glossy magazines, but it plays a big role in keeping a city active. Previously vacant, defunct or abandoned properties get rehabilitated with a new life. Suddenly those areas are buzzing with activity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jain is tracing the architectural impact of immigrant culture and also learning what buildings, built or repurposed, are significant to individual cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs an immigrant myself, I wonder how we tell the stories of these people and the impact they\u2019ve made,\u201d said Jain, a first-generation immigrant from India who came to the U.S. 16 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jain, also the associate director of Texas A&M\u2019s Center for Heritage Conservation, along with researchers Sarah McNamara and Kazuko Suzuki of the College of Liberal Arts, is studying immigrants\u2019 impact in Houston with a $32,000 T3 Texas A&M Triads for Transformation Research Grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Houston is well-known for its suburban sprawl and \u201cstrip mall vernacular,\u201d where buildings\u2019 functionality is often more important than its aesthetics. This type of growth and building style means it\u2019s that much harder to trace individual groups\u2019 influences and preserve buildings that are important to immigrants\u2019 cultural histories, said Jain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile Houston has its \u2018Chinatown\u2019 and \u2018Little India,\u2019 they look very different from their more historicized versions in other major cities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jain is gathering data from a fast-growing subgroup, the South Asian community, many of whom have made their homes in what was originally known as the Hillcroft area on Houston\u2019s southwest side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This \u201cremade\u201d place was originally a white suburb in the 1950s and \u201860s, said Jain. In the \u201870s and \u201880s, after those residents moved to newer suburbs, immigrants moved in and started to make their own mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey took over these older buildings, sometimes repurposing them, but also built new buildings and created their own spaces, merging the old and new, trying to blend in and keep their cultural identity intact,\u201d said Jain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One significant example is the district\u2019s Pakistan Cultural Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Previously a grocery store, it was converted into a community space with conference rooms, a library, prayer halls and sports and recreation rooms. It\u2019s now an important location for Pakistanis to come together and share their heritage, said Jain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2010, the city of Houston, in recognition of South Asian-Americans\u2019 impact, designated an area along Hillcroft Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Houston with a large concentration of South Asian ethnic stores and restaurants as the Mahatma Gandhi District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some community members also petitioned to rename that part of Hillcroft Avenue, to Mahatma Gandhi Avenue. \u201cThere was a lot of pushback and it never happened,\u201d Jain said. \u201cBut there was a slight compromise. \u2018Mahatma Gandhi District\u2019 signs were put up and it now kind of has both identities at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Documenting recent immigrants\u2019 impact on the built environment is a new and understudied research area, said Jain. \u201cWhile it\u2019s great that scholars are starting to catalog the stories of immigrants, architecture\u2019s role in that story is largely missing. We haven\u2019t talked about what kind of spaces these immigrants have built or what cultural value they ascribe to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To learn more about Houston\u2019s South Asian community, Jain and her team will interview these immigrants, who largely moved to Houston after the 1965 Immigration Reform Act and catalog their place-based experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to ask them where they lived when they first moved here, where they worked, and in what neighborhoods,\u201d Jain said. \u201cWhere did they buy their first homes here and where did they find financing … how did they develop their spaces and were they trying to blend in or stand out?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jain said they will also survey participants about their knowledge of historic preservation and what they feel should be a candidate for preservation in their community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe intent is to map what forms immigrant identity takes in a city like Houston and how that fits into our architectural history,\u201d Jain said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The work could also help residents take ownership of their role of preservation processes and empower communities to preserve their heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because Houston\u2019s immigrants have only been present for a few decades, their impact on the city and its architecture hasn\u2019t been recognized by most historic or cultural preservation efforts or organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traditionally, Jain says, in the U.S. buildings are not considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places or similar lists that recognize historical importance until they are at least 50 years old, which could prevent more recent culturally important places from being protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of people assume that the rule is 50 years because that is the point at which buildings start to deteriorate,\u201d Jain said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not true. Buildings start to deteriorate within 10\u201320 years. So even with 50 years, we are going to lose a lot of buildings before we even have a chance to understand the social and cultural significance of these places.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jain said this is a known problem in the global historic preservation community that some countries are trying to address. There are places, like the Houston Space Center, that immediately get added to the National Register because its role in the country\u2019s history is well known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, many significant structures get demolished without intervention or the opportunity for people to fight for preservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jain said the quick, 2017 demolition of the iconic Hall of Nations in New Delhi, India, enraged the design and preservation communities locally and throughout the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut because that building was only 40 years old, the government demolished it in a week,\u201d Jain said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t have to go through any regulatory process. There was a big uproar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Culturally important sites in Houston could still be relatively young today, but will soon be candidates for preservation, said Jain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To help prevent losing such structures to history, Jain serves on The Society of Architectural Historians Heritage Conservation Committee, an international group that petitions for significant buildings around the world that are threatened. They issue advocacy and position statements and try to bring attention to endangered structures to support their preservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese buildings truly are threatened and there is a real need for us to change our mindsets and policies to recognize that cultural and historical importance does not have to be tied to an arbitrary age value,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can transcend that and consider other overriding factors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers in Washington D.C. found that people who can trace their roots in communities over time could have better emotional well-being and a higher sense of belonging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe arguments for preservation are not only cultural but also social, psychological and environmental,\u201d said Jain. \u201cA lot of preservation efforts begin at the local level. It really has to come from the people and begins with engaging the diverse communities that make up our cities and suburbs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n