The 10 historic buildings of Sam Houston Park have long seemed exceptional in a town that has never shown respect for its past. Including homes of various styles and a charming church, all restored and furnished in the styles of their eras, they serve as the primary exhibition spaces for a collection of more than 23,000 historic artifacts.

But their future is now in jeopardy because the non-profit charged with their upkeep is struggling to stay afloat.

The Heritage Society manages the 19th and early 20th century treasures, which are owned by the city, and also maintains five other city-owned buildings in the park, including its museum.

The Society’s leaders say that in the near term, the organization must scale back radically to continue operating. Beginning Feb. 1, all 15 of its full-time employees, including executive director Alison Bell, will work only part-time. General park hours will remain the same, open dawn-to-dusk daily, but the organization will need to lean more than ever on its volunteers.

“It would be horrific if they had to close,” said Randy Tibbits, a co-founder of the Houston Early Texas Art Group, which often stages exhibitions in the Society’s museum. “They provide things to Houston that no one else is providing.”

The Society recently completed the first phase of a $2 million renovation of the Kellum-Noble House, a big-ticket capital improvement. Built in 1848, the home is Houston’s oldest surviving building — and in fact, the Society was founded in 1954 to save it from demolition. But the homes’ annual maintenance averages $300,000 to $350,000, and the organization’s annual operating budget of about $1 million does not adequately cover those expenses.

Even before Hurricane Harvey inundated the park and flooded the 1868 Pillot House, the Society was borrowing heavily to finance building upkeep.

Financial documents show it spent more than $557,000 from mid-2012 to mid-2017 (before Harvey) on the structures, with no city funding for the cost of roofs, HVAC systems, paint, carpentry, alarm monitoring, insurance, pest control and preservation planning.

Efforts to renegotiate the Society’s maintenance contract have led nowhere, said board vice president Minnette Boesel. Andy Icken, the mayor’s chief development officer, confirmed that while they will have “continuing conversations,” the city hasn’t agreed to provide more funding, and there is no proposal right now to do so.

Nor does the Society receive any funds when the city stages festivals at the park. Boesel has once proposed adding a fee to those events to benefit the Society, when access to the museum and tours is cut off or difficult — a step that wouldn’t cost the city anything, she said.

Sam Houston Park’s historic buildings The 1847 Kellum-Noble House, the oldest surviving building in Houston, has original brick walls made of mud from Nathaniel Kellum’s brickyard on the banks of Buffalo Bayou. Original to the site, and acquired by the city with the park property in 1899, it opened as the park’s first house museum in 1958. The Greek Revival 1850 Nichols-Rice-Cherry House was originally located on Courthouse Square in downtown Houston. William Marsh Rice's business partner Ebenezer Nichols first lived there, and later Rice himself. Emma Richardson Cherry, one of Houston’s best-known early artists, moved the house to Montrose; it then became the first house moved to the park, in 1959. The 1868 Pillot House, relocated from McKinney Street, was donated to the city in 1965. One of the first homes in Houston to have an attached kitchen with running water, closets and gas lighting, it was designed with full-length windows and wrap-around porches to accommodate Houston’s hot temperatures. Eugene Pillot, who was in the lumber business, his wife Zeolide and their six children lived in the house. The 1891 St. John Church was built by German and Swiss immigrant farmers in northwest Harris County for their Evangelical Lutheran congregation. Services were held primarily in German until the 1930s. The building was brought to Sam Houston Park in 1968. The 1868 San Felipe Cottage reflects Houston’s German working-class vernacular. Fire chiefs, successful business owners and city council members were among its residents when the home was at 313 San Felipe (now West Dallas); and ownership passed through the hands of three different women. It was moved to the park in 1962. The 1823 Old Place, an example of early Texas frontier architecture, illustrates the hardships faced by immigrants permitted to settle in colonial Texas in Austin’s Colony. The original one-room building was encapsulated inside larger additions in later years. It was moved from the bank of Clear Creek to Sam Houston Park in 1973. The Staiti House, built as a spec home in the Westmoreland Addition, was purchased by oil pioneer Henry T. Staiti in 1905. After damage from a hurricane in 1915, the house was renovated and expanded by Alfred Finn's architectural firm. Its modern amenities included early electric lighting, an intercom system and a built-in ice box. Moved to the park in 1896, it is furnished to depict the lifestyle of the Staiti family in the early 20th century. The 1870 Yates House, originally located at 1318 Andrews Street in Freedmen's Town, is a simplified Greek Revival home built just five years after Emancipation by the Reverend John Henry Yates, an emancipated slave who became the minister for Antioch Baptist Church, founded Bethel Baptist Church and helped to organize the Houston Academy. Donated by the Yates family and moved to the park in 1994, its furnishings include some of the original possessions. The Fourth Ward Cottage, previously located at 809 Robin Street and brought to the park in 2002, was home to a German immigrant family in the middle of the 19th century. It was a rental house for more than a century (1883 to 2001) as part of the thriving African American neighborhood known as Freedmen’s Town. Exposed layers in the walls illustrate changes made to create the “shotgun” structure over the years. The Baker Family Playhouse, built c.1893 by Captain James A. Baker for his daughter Alice at 1104 San Jacinto. moved with the family five times and entertained four generations of Baker children. It was moved to the park in 2010.

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“Unfortunately, the Heritage Society has reached an impasse,” Boesel said.

The Society also has met multiple times with Houston First, which operates nearby Theater District facilities and the George R. Brown convention center. Houston First has not been in a position to help financially since Hurricane Harvey, still saddled with $170 million in repairs to the district’s flooded facilities, Boesel said.

Before the storm, however, Houston First paid for a strategic plan for the park. Delivered last summer, the plan recommended that the Society seek partnerships, initiate place-making projects, program more activities, explore governance options and expand its marketing efforts.

Heritage Society board president Jim Furr said a task force that includes officials from the city, Houston First and other potential partners will explore options for saving the buildings by creating a revenue stream that could also make the park more lively. Slightly more than 15,000 people toured the buildings and gallery in 2016-17 — a lacklaster number by most standards.

Furr envisions “mixed-use in the broad sense,” including a cafe or a retail operation with a commercial partner. He noted that major improvements are coming to downtown’s western side in the next few years that will improve walkability and bike access to the park.

“It’s an exciting opportunity — and scary,” Boesel said.

She, too, believes the park can thrive. “It’s at the nexus point linking Buffalo Bayou Park and hike-and-bike trails. It’s an entryway to downtown,” Boesel said. “And we have all this heritage. This was the home of Houston’s first zoo, and the city’s first municipal park.”

A lot of people gave time and goodwill decades ago to make the park what it is today, Furr said. As a retired architect, he has a special fondness for the Kellum-Noble House, built by Nathaniel Kelly Kellum next to his brickyard. It was included when the city bought the land in 1899.

Houstonian Christine Sigman often brings out-of-town visitors to see the park. She was there Wednesday, in spite of the drizzly weather, with her friend Lisa Mosley, of Boston. "Compared to some of the other parks in Houston,” Sigman said, “the houses really make this a destination.”

Jasper Scherer and Mark Mulligan contributed to this report.