Arthur B. Cohn House

For any baseball fan in Houston, Texas, the Minute Maid Park is the place to be to enjoy America’s pastime. If you’ve ever been to the park, there’s a chance you may have noticed a strange oddity nearby.

Near the southern entrance to the stadium, next to the Home Plate Bar & Grill, is a fenced-up white and blue house that seems out of place. But this is not some random abandoned structure.

The Arthur B. Cohn House, or simply the Cohn House, is named after its original occupant, who helped found Rice University (called Rice Institute back then). The house was built in 1905 and was part of Quality Hill, Houston’s first upscale neighborhood. The “Hill” referred to the slight rise in elevation back then that allowed residents to look down on Buffalo Bayou and Allen’s Landing.

During its lifetime, the house has changed ownership and has been moved to several locations before it was relocated from Rusk Street to its current location behind Minute Maid Park in 2010. It, along with the  Church of Annunciation and the William L. Foley House, remains a rare surviving relic of Quality Hill.

At one point, there were plans to turn the house into a visitor’s center near the George R. Brown Convention Center. However, nothing came out of it, and the Cohn House currently idles near the baseball stadium. Despite the setback, other purposes for the structure have been teased in recent months. Only time will tell about the house’s last destination, and if it will ever be opened to visitors.