Courtlandt Place, Houston is a residential subdivision consisting of a single street, south of downtown Houston, planned in 1906. Courtlandt Place is a member of the Neartown Houston Association.
Overview
Courtlandt Place is a subdivision of Houston, Texas. Courtlandt Place Historic District has been NRHP-listed since 1980, and the district includes eleven houses which carry individual NRHP-listings. "Courtlandt Place" denotes a residential boulevard, a subdivision, and a Historic District, all of which occupy the same location. The Courtlandt Improvement Company developed Courtlandt Place as a single street, gated on both ends, based on private places in St. Louis, which are designed to restrict access to non-residents. Although the company began planning and building infrastructure in 1906, the first houses were built in 1909 or 1910. The Courtlandt Improvement Association also established extensive deed restrictions which regulated house size, land use, and minimum building cost. Unlike many covenants which specified a length of tenure, Courtlandt Place restrictions were written to never expire. In addition, they prohibited all forms of commercial land use.
What made Courtlandt Place a private place was its private street. The residents owned the street, not the City of Houston, nor any other government entity. The residents faced a challenge from a developer of an adjacent neighborhood. John Wesley Link, who laid out a landscaped Montrose Boulevard with termini at Hathaway Avenue (now part of Westheimer) and Richmond Avenue, built his own mansion west of Courtlandt Place. Attracting high-dollar lot sales would be difficult without good street access to downtown. His Lovett Boulevard was blocked by a wall at the west end of Courtlandt Place, and he lobbied the City of Houston to condemn the private street in order to make it a public one. Anticipating that the City of Houston would win its suit against them, the residents of Courtlandt Place agreed to a compromise with the City of Houston near the end of 1912: they would open access to their street in exchange for city services. These included street paving and maintenance, installation of lights, and a promise to control traffic. For seventy years, Courtlandt Place remained a public street until the neighborhood paid $103,115 to the City of Houston to re-privatize the street, which allowed them to rebuild the western gate.
History of houses and residents
Notable architects who designed houses in the neighborhood included Birdsall Briscoe, Alfred C. Finn, John Fanz Staub, Carlos B. Schoeppl, Sanguinet & Staats, and Warren and Wetmore. Fourteen of the properties were developed between 1910 and 1916, while the other five properties were developed between 1920 and 1927.
C. L. Neuhaus House
The C. L. "Baron" Neuhaus House at 6 Courtlandt Place was designed in the Colonial Revival style by Sanguinet & Staats for the local banker in 1910 (NRHP-listed). This was the first home finished in the subdivision. The property also included outbuildings, partly to support small-scale farming activities. The lot included a hen house, two stables, a garage, and servants quarters.
The house is named for Franz Charles "Charley" Ludwig Neuhaus (18571930). Originally from Hackberry, Texas, he moved to Houston in 1906, where he served as a director for the Texas Rice Mill Company and Union National Bank, and was an investment banker. He co-founded the Houston Golf Club and he joined the Houston Country Club as a charter member. He was a developer of Courtlandt Place as he was a principal of the Courtlandt Investment Company, and also served as a trustee. His wife, Emilie "Millie" Joanna Boettcher Neuhaus (18611843), came from a family of Central Texas Germans, and she hired cooks who knew the food of this culture. As a child, Millie left Texas to attend school in Germany.
Sterling Myer House
The Sterling Myer House at 4 Courtlandt Place (NRHP-listed) was another home built in 1910 by Sanguinet & Staats. Sterling Myer (1872—1938), from Plantersville, Texas, was the managing partner of the Courtlandt Improvement Company. He was a partner with the legal firm Campbell and Myer, which also represented Courtlandt Place until 1912. Sterling and his wife Alice Bentley Myer (1873—1968) resided there for just a few years.