2024 Texas's Most Endangered Places List Nominations Open Now
April 1, 2024
We are inviting current members of Preservation Texas to nominate endangered historic buildings and resources anywhere in Texas to the 2024 Most Endangered Places List! Nominations will be accepted through April 30, 2024, and the list will be announced in late May.
Sites eligible for this year's list must have at least one of the following historic designations:
National Register of Historic Places (individually listed or contributing to a National Register historic district)
The Most Endangered Places List provides statewide visibility and publicity for imperiled places and serves as a tool for local advocates to leverage in their efforts to raise awareness and funding. The list also informs our own PT programming and initiatives, including advocacy and education (regional summits), grantmaking (Texas Rural African-American Heritage Grants), and direct investment through acquisition and redevelopment (such as the Linden Fire Station).
Since the original Most Endangered Places List was announced twenty years ago in 2004, many sites have been saved and recognized with PT Honor Awards, and less than ten percent of sites included on the list have been lost. Importantly, a number of sites have also been elevated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list, giving national attention to the Kraigher House in Brownsville (2004), the Statler Hotel in Dallas (2008), Cast-Iron Architecture in Galveston (2009), El Segundo Barrio in El Paso (2016), Ship-on-the-Desert in Guadalupe Mountains National Park (2018), and Olivewood Cemetery in Houston (2022). The Rio Vista Farm in Socorro also became a National Trust National Treasure, which has made a tremendous impact on that site's preservation.
This year, we are transitioning the Most Endangered Places List to focus on historic resources that have already been designated as Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks or listed on the National Register of Historic Places (individually or as a contributing property in a National Register Historic District). We are doing so for a number of reasons:
The significance of sites that have already received state or national designation makes it easier to explain their importance to local audiences, decision makers, and funders and to justify their inclusion on a statewide list. It also builds credibility for the program and demonstrates a local commitment to the site.
We will be better positioned to reinforce to legislators the importance of preservation incentives such as state and federal historic tax credits by sharing with them a list of sites that can benefit from enhancements to and expansion of these incentives, as they must have state or federal designation to be eligible for tax incentives.
The list will underscore the importance of continued vigilance by local preservation and historical commissions to ensure that sites that have been recognized with markers and designations are well-maintained and not left to deteriorate. It will also focus our efforts to ensure that property owners receive the technical and financial support needed to preserve these important Texas places.
We will be developing a companion program, separate from our Most Endangered Places List, to assist the owners of imperiled properties that are as yet undesignated to secure state and federal recognition as Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks or listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
We can identify properties that might benefit from a new, voluntary preservation easement program that requires listing on the National Register to be eligible for federal income tax incentives.
The development of our 2024 Most Endangered Places List will be an important milestone for all of the sites that will be included. We look forward to working with you to support the preservation of endangered places across Texas!
Please note that not every site with a historical marker has an official designation. To verify historic designation(s), you may look up the site in the Texas Historic Sites Atlas online at atlas.thc.state.tx.us.
