No photograph
on file
Est. 1912
Photo: urban.houstonian from Houston, TX, USA / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Haunted Dining / Bar

Spaghetti Warehouse Houston (Desel-Boettcher Warehouse)

The 1912 Desel-Boettcher pharmaceutical warehouse operated as Spaghetti Warehouse from 1974 until Hurricane Harvey flooded it in 2017; the surviving building is in adaptive-reuse renovation and remains closed to the public.

901 Commerce Street, Houston, TX 77002

Wheelchair Accessible Research-Backed · 4 sources

Research updated May 2026

Age

All Ages

Cost

Free

Exterior viewing from Commerce Street is free. The building is closed to the public during renovation and is not currently a visitable venue interior.

Access

Wheelchair OK

Downtown sidewalk in Market Square Historic District

Equipment

Photos OK

Phantom footsteps on upper floorsShadow figures in dining areasKitchen dishware moving on its ownShoulder taps on staffShoelaces tied together while standing

Spaghetti Warehouse Houston had one of the most-cited paranormal reputations in Texas during its 1974-2017 restaurant tenure. The central legend, repeated by Ghost Texas, US Ghost Adventures, and the University of Houston student magazine Cooglife, centers on a pharmacist said to have fallen to his death down the building's freight elevator shaft while working late during the warehouse's early-twentieth-century pharmaceutical years. The wife of the pharmacist is said to have died of grief within a year of the accident. Independent contemporary newspaper documentation of the death has not been recovered in the published paranormal accounts, so the underlying incident should be treated as oral tradition rather than archival fact.

During the restaurant's four decades of operation, staff and patrons regularly reported a consistent set of phenomena: phantom footsteps on upper floors after hours, shadow figures glimpsed in the dining rooms, kitchen-area dishware moving on its own, taps on the shoulder felt by servers in empty corners, and — most distinctively — shoelaces tied together in pairs while servers stood at a station. Cooglife's profile and the Ghost Texas writeup catalog dozens of staff-attributed incidents from the 1980s onward.

The restaurant closed after 2017 Hurricane Harvey flooding. The building's reputation remains a fixture on Houston ghost-walk routes, though the interior is no longer accessible to the public.

Notable Entities

The pharmacist (elevator shaft fall)The pharmacist's grieving wife

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Featured on these tours

Ghost City Tours — Houston

This Houston tour includes Spaghetti Warehouse Houston (Desel-Boettcher Warehouse) on its route.

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US Ghost Adventures Houston

This Houston tour includes Spaghetti Warehouse Houston (Desel-Boettcher Warehouse) on its route.

Book this tour

Sources & Further Reading

Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.

  1. 1.preservationhouston.org/news/2018/7/10/new-owner-to-rehab-former-spaghetti-warehouse-building
  2. 2.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_Warehouse
  3. 3.khou.com/article/news/local/new-plans-for-old-spaghetti-warehouse-make-it-floodable/285-575615205
  4. 4.cooglife.com/2016/11/print-haunted-spaghetti-warehouse

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Spaghetti Warehouse Houston (Desel-Boettcher Warehouse) family-friendly?
Exterior viewing is family-friendly. The elevator-shaft accident in the lore warrants a parental preview for younger children. Overall family fit: High.
How much does it cost to visit Spaghetti Warehouse Houston (Desel-Boettcher Warehouse)?
Exterior viewing from Commerce Street is free. The building is closed to the public during renovation and is not currently a visitable venue interior. This location is free to visit.
Do I need to book in advance?
No advance booking is required, but checking availability is recommended.
Is Spaghetti Warehouse Houston (Desel-Boettcher Warehouse) wheelchair accessible?
Yes, Spaghetti Warehouse Houston (Desel-Boettcher Warehouse) is wheelchair accessible. Terrain: Downtown sidewalk in Market Square Historic District.