Preservation Houston | News
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Protected landmark designation for Mecom Fountain moves forward

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The City of Houston is proceeding with its designation of the Mecom Fountain as a protected historic landmark. Architect Eugene Werlin designed the fountain, which was built in 1964 in the traffic circle where Montrose Boulevard meets Main Street at the entrance to Hermann Park. Houston oilman John Mecom funded the project after he bought the former Warwick Hotel (now Hotel ZaZa) across the street from the fountain's site.

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Sing a song of Houston

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On Monday, March 7, Preservation Houston donated the restored 1915 prototype of the City of Houston flag to Houston Public Library’s Houston Metropolitan Research Center. The flag will be displayed in the historic Julia Ideson library building downtown.

If you couldn’t attend the program, you missed the Houston Saengerbund and what might have been the first performance of the Houston Municipal Song in a century. The Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Gray picked up the story of the song in her online column today.

A banner event: Celebrating Houston's first flag

In 1915, the city of Houston adopted the design for its official municipal flag: "one lone white star, floating in a sea of azure blue and bearing on its surface the original seal of the city of Houston." Based on a design by railroad retiree W.A. Wheeldon, the flag first took shape as a prototype created by the Levy Bros. department store, which was then used as a model for a 10-by-12-foot silk banner carried in that year's Independence Day parade.

Now, a century later, Preservation Houston will present the restored 1915 flag prototype to the city of Houston — and you're invited to join us.