Molly Block, Granada Theater Detail, 2020
Opening reception at Preservation Houston:
Tuesday, March 24, 6 - 8 pm
Exhibition on view:
Now - June 30, 2026
Some of Houston’s most distinctive landmarks are also the most familiar — the ones we pass every day. Photographer Molly Block has spent years documenting the neon pylons, ghost signs and hand-lettered façades that mark the city’s commercial past. Now 30 of her images are on view in Signs of the City: Framing Houston’s Roadside Landmarks, a new presentation at Preservation Houston’s Midtown offices.
Join us to hear Block discuss her work and its connection to Preservation Houston’s advocacy at an opening reception and artist talk from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, at Preservation Houston’s offices, 3907 Main Street. RSVP here>>
Block’s images, ranging from theater marquees and coffee shop towers to neon donuts and hand-painted walls, capture the everyday landmarks that give Houston’s streets their character. Each one is photographed with the same attention usually reserved for buildings.
Some of the signs Block pictures are beloved neighborhood fixtures. Others were threatened but ultimately saved, among them portions of the Granada Theater’s exterior signage and the Art Moderne Sears sign on North Shepherd Drive, both preserved through advocacy by Preservation Houston and its community partners. These images make the case that landmarks don’t need a historic designation to be worth saving — and invite us to reconsider what we value as the city changes.
Ten percent of sales will benefit Preservation Houston, courtesy of the artist and the Catherine Couturier Gallery. The photographs are on view at Preservation Houston, located at 3907 Main Street, through June 30, 2026.