Landmark 301
Conroe, Texas
2025 HISTORIC REHABILITATION AWARD
Landmark 301 is located in the former Montgomery County Hospital in Conroe. Built in 1938, the hospital was designed by Wyatt C. Hedrick in the Moderne style, with fluted limestone pilasters, Art Deco details, and streamlined symmetry. It was the first public hospital in Montgomery County, opening during the Great Depression.
At the time, Houston’s medical facilities were forty miles away and Conroe’s population was growing rapidly amid the region’s oil boom. The new hospital earned Conroe its nickname, “The Miracle City.” For more than four decades, generations of families were born here, healed here, and worked here.
After the hospital closed in 1982, the building stood vacant for many years. By 2018 it was facing severe deterioration from water infiltration, and its future was uncertain. But in 2021, the site was purchased by Overland Property Group. Working alongside preservation partners and the community, they embarked on an ambitious, three-year project to revive the building as an independent senior living facility.
Every project decision was guided by respect for the original design. On the exterior, the limestone façade, fluted pilasters, and original light fixtures framing the main entrance were carefully preserved. Overall massing and materials remain, including original light fixtures framing the primary entrance. The original 1938 wing, with its Art Moderne ornamentation, remains the heart of the complex.
Inside, plaster walls, decorative ceilings, and the green tile corridors of the 1953 wing were restored, and the original double-loaded hallways and door openings were retained. Original patient rooms were reconfigured into apartment units.
The rehabilitation project required extensive site improvements, including the removal of asbestos, mold, animal waste, and lead-based paint. The 1953 addition, featuring cantilevered concrete awnings and aluminum windows, was stabilized and repaired. And the 1967 addition, more utilitarian in character, was rehabilitated to provide new, efficient living spaces while respecting its midcentury fabric.
The project earned both state and federal historic tax credits, as well as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. The building is also Conroe’s first-ever listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Today, Landmark 301 is a 47-unit affordable senior housing community. With a 45-year long-term stewardship plan, it will continue serving the community for generations to come.
The award was presented at Preservation Texas’s 2025 Honor Award Ceremony in San Antonio on October 30, 2025.
Owner: Overland Property Group
Project Manager: April Engstrom, Overland Property Group
Architect: Chris Gillam, Jones Gillam Renz Architects
Engineer: Sam Malinowsky, SM Engineering
Contractor: ARCO National Construction
Other Partners and Stakeholders: Post Oak Preservation Solutions (Historic Consultant); Sarah Anderson Consulting (Tax Credit Consultant), BOKF (Construction Lender); Raymond James (Federal Historic Tax Credit Investor); Commerce Bank (State Historic Tax Credit Investor); Phase Engineering (Environmental Abatement); Montgomery County Historical Commission (Advocate)
