HOUSTON – A short-term lease signed this week by the Texas Historical Commission is giving the 1940 Air Terminal Museum a renewed chance at survival — and it puts an immediate stop to plans that would have led to artifacts being removed from the building.
The commission said the six-month agreement, which began July 1, is meant to buy time for a final round of evaluation to determine whether the historic airport terminal-turned-museum could eventually be folded into the state’s system of historic sites.
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The museum, located in the former Houston Municipal Airport terminal built in 1940, has struggled financially and shut down in May. With the closure came a deadline to move out by the end of June, raising concerns among supporters that collections and displays could be dismantled or sold off.
Instead, the lease pauses that process while state officials take a closer look at what it would cost to keep the property running. That review will include the building’s maintenance backlog, what upgrades would be required to meet safety and accessibility standards, and whether operating the museum can be sustained economically.
“While there is no guarantee for the 1940 Air Terminal Museum to be reopened as a state historic site, we enter this final phase of assessment with optimism,” said Joseph Bell, Executive Director of the Texas Historical Commission. “We will make every consideration possible to move forward in that direction.”
The Texas Historical Commission is the state’s preservation agency and manages dozens of historic sites and programs across Texas.