Meet Meredith Crockett Soper

Today we’d like to introduce you to Meredith Crockett Soper.

Meredith, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My parents are both Houstonians (well, my dad moved here from Dallas when he was two, but we don’t talk about that). They met in high school at Bellaire, she went to UT, he A&M, and reunited post-college to start a life together back in Houston. They had me and my three sisters while living in West University, raising us in the heart of Houston and grew to love our city more and more every year as most do. Now, y’all have to agree with me in that being from Houston, we are protective mama bears. Don’t you call my baby ugly! We’re not flat, you’re flat! Houston is the 4th largest city in America but you can probably count on your hand how many times it’s been the chosen location for a movie setting. We are stealth yet proud, large yet under the radar, southern but not the South. I consider myself an original “Houston Strong” ambassador…no, I didn’t coin the phrase but let’s just say I wanted to name my child “Texas” when I was younger, regardless of the gender. Shout out to my 7th-grade egg-speriment at Trafton Academy!

I have always loved my city, the skyline, the inner loop, the sunsets, the three stars in the night sky (haha). When I graduated from college, I moved back home to start a career in sports marketing because that’s what I did in college when I wasn’t going to class or giving all my money to the downtown square nightlife. I started temping at a boutique property management firm in downtown Houston as their receptionist while I searched for my dream job. Quickly realizing I wouldn’t be able to support myself being the t-shirt girl at the Astros’ home games, I continued working in my current field and slowly realized I was actually really enjoying myself in this property management office. Now, let’s be real, no one really (or used to really) strives to be a Landlord, yet, I was learning how to be a Landlord at this job. I was learning first hand how a building operated, how the tenants of the building operated, how the lights don’t magically come on in the morning and how there’s no hamster wheel in the basement keeping the air-cooled and circulating…well, they’re just called engineers, not hamsters, but you get it. It was really cool and interesting! It was in this setting, this job, this moment in my life, that my love for my city became more than just a stubborn Texas pride technicality.

Instead of knowing nothing but that cool photo Google spits out when you search “Houston skyline”, I learned the tallest building (typically featured on the far left-hand side of said skyline photo) was Chase Tower, the green glass cylindrical one, that’s Wells Fargo Plaza, the short rectangle one with the major antenna sticking out of it, that’s One Shell Plaza, and who can forget the “pink” 3-tiered one, Bank of America Tower…I was learning the curves of my city. Major roads leading into downtown and out the other end, those roads are named after great Houstonians, John Kirby and August Chapman Allen, Michael Westheimer, Sam Houston to name a few.

Being in a building downtown, walking the cobblestone sidewalks in my ForeverXXI high heels and hand-me-down pencil skirts, recognizing buildings from conversations with my boss, I grew to love managing commercial properties, and thus bore my unconditional love for my city’s quiet history. Also, Context is one of my main core competencies, no surprise there! I dig into the weeds to get to know people, places and things to their true core. Enter @didHOUknow…I created @didHOUknow in 2016 after I started with my new company in commercial real estate in downtown Houston and one of my friends commented on a building photo on my personal Instagram account that I should start a Houston based account just for the fun facts I was posting about iconic Houston landmarks and fun “didHOUknow” tidbits about said landmark.

didHOUknow that the Travertine stone that skins One Shell Plaza came from the same Italian rock quarry that built the Roman Coliseum?

didHOUknow that Westheimer Road was named after German immigrant, Michael Westheimer, because he started a school and the road leading to that school (now Lamar High School) was nicknamed “Westheimer’s Road”?

didHOUknow that the Niels Esperson building is the only complete example of Italian Renaissance architecture in downtown Houston?

If you love Houston, and history and architecture as much as I do, then I know you’d appreciate the tidbits we feature on @didHOUknow.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Luckily there haven’t been many challenges in starting my own Houston trivia account, however the challenges are real in verifying information and ensuring my sources are credible. Otherwise, I’m just another Wikipedia…no bueno.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I will say that what I’m most proud of for myself is the fact that I started something for me and it is because of someone else’s recognition of my passion. Call that narcissism but I think not enough people realize their passions and instead apologize for them. I’m a nerd in that I love buildings. Who knew? I wanted to go into sports marketing originally. Come to find out, the furthest thing away from the glitzy, fast-paced networking world of sports marketing is the bones of an old building, LOL.

One person, who doesn’t know me, but I (and the world) knows him, is Mr. Gerald Hines, Houston’s greatest development guru in my opinion. He is probably the coolest 94-year-old (aside from my maternal grandmother, Viola Ruth Fieglein) ever. He built basically every monumental peak of our downtown skyline. If you don’t know who Gerald Hines is, you don’t know Houston as you should. I want to thank him for bringing beauty to Houston and putting us on the map.

I’m proud when one person gives me the “thumbs up” on one photo. I’m proud when someone comments “Oh cool!” on one of my captions. People should know the history they walk passed on the daily, and they should take the history and pass it along. Who are we if we don’t know where we come from, who was here before, and what events took place in the areas we frequent today?

I think I can be set apart from others in that I don’t provide a 400-page book or an all-day lecture, it’s touch and go information. I’m fortunate to be in the business and industry of architecture and history and of course, Houston, so I can simply ask my superiors and predecessors of cool information on the properties they’ve managed and worked in. That’s how I get the majority of my didHOUknow facts. If I pass by an old building or a famous street but don’t really know why it’s called a certain name or nickname, I do my research and share the knowledge with those who are interested. It’s simple and I love it. It’s my city and yours and we should know about it. #themoreHOUknow

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My husband has always been my biggest cheerleader. Though we only married in January 2019, he’s been one of my closest friends for 18 years! We met when we were 14 and it’s been such a fun life with him by my side. Of course, my colleagues and coworkers, who send me snippets of information on their properties that I can share because they’re my fellow men and women of industry we share the same passions.

Contact Info:

• Phone: 7137032103
• Email: meredith.crockett@gmail.com
• Instagram: @didHOUknow

Image Credit:
Greg Ortiz Photography, Morgan Lynn Photography

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