Houston’s Historic Kirby Mansion Is Demolished To Make Way for Convenience Store

by Julie Gerstein

Preservationists in Houston are up in arms after a historic mansion dating back to 1894 was demolished to erect a convenience store.

On Friday, demolition on Kirby Mansion began but was quickly halted by Houston Public Works after it was discovered that a demolition permit had been applied for but not approved.

Dozens of locals held a candlelight vigil on Sunday to protest the demolition, but the permit was approved over the weekend. Demolition resumed and was completed on Monday morning.

The Kirby Mansion was named after lumber baron and industrialist John Henry Kirby who purchased the small home that was originally on the site in 1896 and expanded it into a 36-room Tudor Revival mansion.

Among the many unique features of the home was a library with hidden panels and a “thunder room”—a sound-insulated room built because Kirby's wife, Lelia, had a severe fear of thunderstorms.

The historic Kirby Mansion is seen partially demolished in Midtown Houston — After demolition was halted last Friday, part of the mansion's facade remained standing. (Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

The Kirby family sold the property in 1947, and the mansion served as the headquarters for the Houston-Harris County Red Cross for 30 years, though it had not been occupied in recent years.

Over its 132-year history, the mansion hosted presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and George H.W. Bush, as well as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

This past September, OB Texas Properties LLC, a company owned by Omair Bashir, purchased the property for more than $9.3 million. Bashir and his brother, Usman, are the owners of Brake Time Corner Market, a fast-growing convenience store and gas station chain.

In September 2025, Brake Time announced it would be opening 35 new convenience stores across Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, and Kansas through the end of 2026, with three planned for Houston.

This past June, OB Texas Properties filed a plan for a 13,254-square-foot, one-story commercial building at an address within the mansion’s property boundaries. The filings included a hemp registration—indicating consumable hemp products would also be sold at the location.

Local preservationists had rallied to save the mansion, but because it lacked local, state, or federal historic designation, there was little they could do.

Over the weekend, Preservation Houston tried to contact Bashir’s company about removing some of the historic details from the site, including the mansion’s hand-carved oak staircase and imported tiles, but received no response.

“We wish the owner had been transparent and honest about the plans for this property and willing to discuss preservation options,” Jennifer Kapral, the executive director of Preservation Houston told Realtor.com in a statement. “We offered to explore ways to give this building a future. We also asked for the opportunity to document it and discuss salvaging irreplaceable materials if demolition went ahead. We received no response. Houston deserves better than this.”

“What’s so sad is the people that did buy this, and again, it’s their private property they can do with it as they choose. It just seems like not the best place for a vape store and gas station when there are numerous gas stations within a three-mile radius,” local resident Jason Fuller told the Houston Chronicle.

This isn’t the first time the Kirby Mansion was scheduled for demolition. In 2018 Central Houston Auto Properties LLC purchased the property, with the intention of turning it into a car dealership, though those plans never came to fruition.

Realtor.com has reached out to Brake Time for comment.

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