Entry No. 18 — the Houston file — filed under: art
Project Row Houses
A row of identical shotgun houses in the Third Ward, each turned over to a different artist for a rotating exhibition "round" — the program's signature format since 1993. Visiting is always free, Wednesday through Sunday.
The story
In 1993, a group of artists in Houston's Historic Third Ward—one of the city's oldest African-American neighborhoods—took a row of abandoned shotgun houses scheduled for demolition and turned them into an ongoing neighborhood-based art program. Co-founded by local artists including the late Floyd Newsum, Project Row Houses rescued 22 identical wooden shotgun structures and preserved their historical footprint rather than letting them be cleared.
The genius of the place lies in its architectural control variable. Every shotgun house on the block shares the exact same floor plan: a straight, linear path from front porch to back porch through narrow rooms lined up end-to-end. Yet when PRH hands these identical frames over to artists for a rotating exhibition "round," every interior becomes a completely distinct ecosystem. You step onto a porch, walk inside one door, and encounter a dense sensory installation, then step down, walk two feet to the next house, and enter a completely different structural concept.
What it's like
Arrive at 2521 Holman Street and take your time moving down the wooden steps from house to house. Visiting is self-guided and untethered: you step directly off the Third Ward pavement onto narrow front porches, ducking inside spaces where you are standing just inches from the work. Because individual houses are compact, you'll often have a whole shotgun house to yourself for several minutes before moving on. Visiting is completely free Wednesday through Sunday, but check operational hours beforehand as houses close between rounds while artists build out new installations.
The move: Walk the row house by house comparing how radically each artist transforms the identical shotgun layout, then find lunch in Third Ward afterward.
- 📍 Third Ward
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 2521 Holman St, Houston, TX 77004
Hours: Added 2026-07-19 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Our Little Red One Shop — Walk four-tenths of a mile down Third Ward to visit this Black-owned hoodoo shop and ministry operating in the neighborhood since 2017.
- The Printing Museum — Head under a mile west to swap contemporary site-specific art for hands-on history, where you can hand-pull a page from a Gutenberg Bible replica.
- Houston Fire Museum — Drive 1.2 miles into Midtown to inspect an 1899 Romanesque brick firehouse packed with hand-drawn pumpers and vintage apparatus.
Good to know
Is admission free?
Yes, visiting the shotgun house installation rounds is always free to the public, Wednesday through Sunday.
What is an exhibition "round"?
A round is PRH's signature exhibition format used since 1993, where selected artists take over individual shotgun houses to create site-specific installations for a set period before the spaces reset for the next group.
How many houses are on the property?
The development includes a group of 22 renovated shotgun-style homes restored across the site in the Third Ward.
Where is Project Row Houses located?
It sits at 2521 Holman St in Houston's Historic Third Ward.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · papercitymag.com
last checked: 2026-07-19