There are undoubtedly places in the world where a building erected in 1884 would qualify as “new construction”, but that place ain’t Houston. In Houston, it seems we have a phobia about anything built before Gen X. We are overrun by a locust swarm of developers ready to rip out and rebuild and, as a result, we lose a lot of our history along the way. Fortunately, we still have a precious few buildings like the Cotton Exchange to give us a little road marker of where we came from and, thankfully, a precious few people willing to nurture such buildings and keep them in usable condition.

That is, at least until some developer twirls his mustache, throws aside his cape, and draws a big red X on the place. Until then, we can enjoy it.