Knights of Pythias building faces demolition

Word has reached Fort Worthology from Janna, at the Hillside Apartments, that the owners of the historic Knights of Pythias building from 1925 in the Hillside neighborhood are planning to demolish the building.

Now, a Knights of Pythias hall is worthy enough of preservation, but what makes this building especially historic is that it was the home of the Key of the West Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, a segregated African American lodge. So little of Fort Worth’s built African American heritage from that era remains standing that the loss of this building would be especially tragic. After the Knights moved out, the building was used for various retail uses (including a beauty shop, the decayed signage of which can still be found on the building) before finally being abandoned.

Ten years ago, the surrounding neighborhood was bought by developers to create the Hillside Apartments, a large collection of small apartment houses designed to fit into the traditional look of the neighborhood. When Hillside was developed, the owners of the Knights building did not sell. The building is now in the heart of the reborn Hillside neighborhood, across Crump St. from the Hillside office and sharing a block with a historic church and a sole remaining tiny “shotgun” house. Ever since the Hillside development, the building has still remained vacant and in disrepair.

The building is on Demolition Delay, the rather toothless historic preservation law that states that demolition cannot occur until 180 days from the filing of demo papers. The owners must also have a meeting with interested parties to find ways to save the building. Problem is, the owners can wait until day 179 to have the meeting and then demolish immediately afterward, or just set the price so high that nobody would be able to afford the building. So you see, Demolition Delay is not a particularly effective means of preservation.

Janna at Hillside says she’s heard the owners are wanting $300,000 for the building. Fort Worthology can think of many good uses for this building - neighborhood grocer/corner store, live/work units, lofts, artists’ loft/studio space, offices, and the like. This would be a terrible loss for Fort Worth and its heritage, and we would be thrilled to see this building brought back to life.

Fort Worthology recently took some photos of the building in its present state, and we’d like to share them with you now: