RiversideT Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Does anyone remember the old home at 202 McGowen? It was the Joseph H. McEvoy home built around 1905 by Joseph H. McEvoy Sr., and occupied by the McEvoy family until the early 70's. The house stood vacant for about 40 years, and was finally bought and torn down in the early 2000s. I was fortunate enough to have "discovered" the house while the sale was pending. When I found out it was purchased by a developer who was going to tear it down, I contacted him, and he graciously allowed me to go in the house and remove some architectural features and fixtures before they ended up as landfill. The McEvoy family owned J.H. McEvoy & Company, and manufactured strainers and set shoe assemblies for oil rigs, and also had quite a few patents on these items. The original business location was 202 Milam at Franklin, and eventually moved to 600 Milby Street. I'm posting a few pictures I came across the other day. I hated to see the house torn down even though it was in bad shape. I'm sure the ceilings in the living room were 15' high, and all the old light fixtures were still in place. The upstairs was impressive because every bedroom had a sitting room off of it. I'm glad I got to see it and record it before it was torn down. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chi-Char-Hou-Dal Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Very cool - my neighbor mentioned the house next to Ron's auto was a brothel anyone remember that or have more info? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NenaE Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 (edited) Thank You for sharing your pictures, RiversideT. That is an impressive design. The photos show the detail that went into these huge homes, inside and out. That roofline caught my eye, and the brickwork in the front columns. Do you remember if there were screened sleeping porches, along with the sitting areas, in the bedrooms? They are mentioned in books about old, large Houston houses.Nice to know the history of the owner, as well. You've done some research. Looks like the house sat at the corner of McGowen & Helena Streets. The Harris County Block Book maps show that it sat in the Settegast & Upham Addition. I never saw this old home, but my mom stayed in a very old wooden home on McGowen with long columns. It was near the small theater. The 600 block of Milby falls to the side entrance of the Maxwell House Coffee Plant (previous auto factory).HCAD lists a "Joseph E. McEvoy" on Peden St., in Rosemont Hts. Extn. Maybe they are related. Edited June 2, 2014 by NenaE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiversideT Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 Yes, it was a very beautiful house, NenaE - I really enjoyed the opportunity to get to go inside and see it before it was demolished. The stairs went up to a landing (which had a big picture window), then wound up to the second floor. At the top of the stairs, there was a large, open room - much like a second-floor parlour. As you walked through it, it opened out onto a screened-in balcony area (visible on the 4th photo of the back of the house). Most of the screens were still in place on the second floor area, but had been removed on the ground floor. There was also just one bathroom in the house, also on the second floor, but it was large. It had a beautiful claw-foot tub in it, but I couldn't find anyone to help me carry it down the stairs, so I'm not sure if it was salvaged or not. I did happen to save the wall-hung corner sink, complete with a shell-shaped brass soap dish. Just did not want to think about it being crushed and trashed. I don't think the building is there any longer at the 600 Milby location - I believe it is just a parking lot. I do have an old photo which I will post of the 202 Milam (at Franklin) location of J.H. McEvoy & Co. There used to be a website where Southern Pacific (or, I guess, Union Pacific) posted all their old historic photos of sites along the rail lines. I'm not sure of the web address or anything, but here it is. Also an old ad for the company. 9981.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Wow, Never knew that was there. Very nice images. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 I don't think the building is there any longer at the 600 Milby location - I believe it is just a parking lot. I do have an old photo which I will post of the 202 Milam (at Franklin) location of J.H. McEvoy & Co. There used to be a website where Southern Pacific (or, I guess, Union Pacific) posted all their old historic photos of sites along the rail lines. I'm not sure of the web address or anything, but here it is. Also an old ad for the company. I might be missing something but I don't understand how that photo could be of 202 Milam, which was at a busy downtown intersection lined with storefronts. Could it have been 600 Milby? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasota Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Mcgowan, not Milam. And much of what is now Midtown used to be full of mansions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Mcgowan, not Milam. And much of what is now Midtown used to be full of mansions. As was much of what is n ow Downtown. The area around Caroline and Buffalo Bayou was called Quality Hill because of the rich people living there. And from an older thread, check out the pictures of waht stood at 2016 Main and other nearby locations http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/5093-galveston-and-houston-architectural-housing-styles/#entry70760 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiversideT Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 According to the Southern Pacific website I got the photo from, the location the photo was taken was 202 Milam at Franklin, and that was also the address of the company listed in the advertisements for J.H. McEvoy Company (I attached a PDF in a previous post). I don't think that a manufacturing business that made oil well strainers, etc. would have been amongst storefronts, but stranger things have happened - even today in Houston with no zoning. . There are tracks running close by both locations currently. Not sure where all the tracks ran about 100 years ago, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiversideT Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 ...and I know it's a bit confusing since the McEvoy home was at 202 McGowen and the McEvoy business was at 202 Milam. I'll bet they planned that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 But the photo shows a dirt road, shade trees, and grass. No way that's Milam and Franklin. Google Earth has a 1944 aerial and it's packed around there, as I'm sure it would have been going back to the 19th century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NenaE Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 But the photo shows a dirt road, shade trees, and grass. No way that's Milam and Franklin. Google Earth has a 1944 aerial and it's packed around there, as I'm sure it would have been going back to the 19th century. I think that's the house on McGowan's location, not one of the two businesses RiversideT also mentions. One business address was close to Buffalo Bayou, downtown. ...unless Im missing something, here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 I don't think that picture could be of 202 McGowen... old pictures show that part of McGowen as quite the mansion 'hood, and those buildings are industrial. The biggest mansion of all was a couple blocks north of there in that big grove of trees off of Hadley and Bagby where the Metro Midtown apartments are now. Would love to know the story on that place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NenaE Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 It's not. We are talking about 3 McEvoy locations, two business and 1 residence. The thumbnail is one business location. Here's a HC Block Book map, with the estates you mention, H-Town Man. I was just reading about it, recently. It's also been discussed on HAIF, before. Can't find the link. It was very close to the McGowen house, pictured in Post #1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiversideT Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Just to clarify: The McEvoy residence was located at 202 McGowen - intersection of McGowen and Helena. The street signs are clearly visible in the photo, and I remember where I was when I took the photos. The McEvoy Tool Company was located at 202 Milam and also 600 Milby. The addresses are both very available and prominent in the Houston City Directories. I got the photo of the McEvoy Tool Company off an old defunct website for the Southern Pacific Railroad where they posted that it was the 202 Milam location, although I tend to think it is 600 Milby as I have looked at maps and aerials myself, and the tracks seem more in line with the location on Milby. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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