[editor]

Vice Mayor Pro Tem Sue Lovell, District H Council Member Ed Gonzalez, and At-Large Position 3 Council Member Melissa Noriega are pleased to announce that a historic structure in Houston's East End-the Sterling Laundry & Cleaning Co. façade at 4819 Harrisburg Blvd.-has been saved. This was accomplished through an effort between the Council Members, METRO, and leaders of the surrounding neighborhood. The façade will be saved and then relocated to Eastwood Park, where it will remain a part of the streetscape on Harrisburg, as it has been since 1935.

As chair of the City of Houston historic preservation committee, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Lovell thanks all the partners who have participated in saving this historic structure. "These are the kinds of partnerships that are needed to save our history as the city continues to grow and develop."

[sevfiv]

Interesting...here's the building for those wondering:



http://arch-ive.org/...erling-laundry/

[musicman]

i guess that's why the green permit tag was on it yesterday afternoon. i wonder where james rodriguez is?

[editor]

Nice building, though I'm not a big fan of facade-ectomies. They've been done around here with varying degrees of success and failure. One ended up stuck in the middle of a park. Lame.

It would be nice to see that clock working again, though.

[marmer]

editor, on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 3:01 PM, said:

Nice building, though I'm not a big fan of facade-ectomies. They've been done around here with varying degrees of success and failure. One ended up stuck in the middle of a park. Lame.

It would be nice to see that clock working again, though.

Stuck in the middle of a park? Like this?

"The façade will be saved and then relocated to Eastwood Park, where it will remain a part of the streetscape on Harrisburg, as it has been since 1935."

Agreed. Facade-ectomies are to preservation as instant coffee is to coffee.

This post has been edited by marmer: Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 3:25 PM

[editor]

marmer, on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 3:23 PM, said:

Stuck in the middle of a park? Like this?

"The façade will be saved and then relocated to Eastwood Park, where it will remain a part of the streetscape on Harrisburg, as it has been since 1935."

Agreed. Facade-ectomies are to preservation as instant coffee is to coffee.

This was the victim I had in mind:



The old Chicago Stock Exchange building. Awful what happened to it.

[NenaE]

marmer, on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 3:23 PM, said:

Stuck in the middle of a park? Like this?

"The façade will be saved and then relocated to Eastwood Park, where it will remain a part of the streetscape on Harrisburg, as it has been since 1935."

Agreed. Facade-ectomies are to preservation as instant coffee is to coffee.

Oh no, it's goin' to be like a taxidermist's work (at times), the head without the body...I don't care for that. Why can't it just stay where it is, intact? I was just there the other day, wondering about it's fate.

[CHiPs]

Nice to know it's being "saved"...but why can't they just move the facade back several yards? OK..venting over.

This post has been edited by CHiPs: Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 4:45 PM

[gonzo1976]

editor, on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 4:06 PM, said:

The old Chicago Stock Exchange building. Awful what happened to it.

The same thing happened to the old St. Joseph Maternity Building. The building was demolished and a portion of it was used as the entrance to the park that sits on the site today.

[names]

"facade-ectomies"

That's the first I've ever heard that term. Pretty funny, but I think the problem with most facade extractions is that the connection the facade had before was due to contextual settlement. In it's new site or subtracted being, it's fragmentation has wiped away the familiar identity previously assigned to it as once a part of a whole. The park example of the stock exchange is almost like looking at a ghost. Vapid, but saying all the right things about the current state of art. Good facade extraction needs new context. That could mean contrasting, exhaulting, blending, or any myriad of designs.

Is it a failure to preservationist's POV that Metro cannot accommodate the existing building area? You can see how an old building program can be akin to shoe-horning cankle into jimmy chos. Times have changed, code is more presciptive now. Given the builder climate around here, is it an achievement or is it a bad compromise?

My expectation is that Metro will do a bad adaptation with the "topping" but since it's in the East End it will last for a long long time and may be historic one day by way of art deco coat tails. Very Houston, by honoring the impermanence of life.

This post has been edited by names: Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 5:08 PM

[editor]

How about this for a compromise -- let Metro raze the building. But the replacement building has to look exactly the same -- only bigger!

[TheNiche]

names, on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 5:06 PM, said:

"facade-ectomies"

That's the first I've ever heard that term. Pretty funny, but I think the problem with most facade extractions is that the connection the facade had before was due to contextual settlement. In it's new site or subtracted being, it's fragmentation has wiped away the familiar identity previously assigned to it as once a part of a whole. The park example of the stock exchange is almost like looking at a ghost. Vapid, but saying all the right things about the current state of art. Good facade extraction needs new context. That could mean contrasting, exhaulting, blending, or any myriad of designs.

Is it a failure to preservationist's POV that Metro cannot accommodate the existing building area? You can see how an old building program can be akin to shoe-horning cankle into jimmy chos. Times have changed, code is more presciptive now. Given the builder climate around here, is it an achievement or is it a bad compromise?

My expectation is that Metro will do a bad adaptation with the "topping" but since it's in the East End it will last for a long long time and may be historic one day by way of art deco coat tails. Very Houston, by honoring the impermanence of life.

Very well put. A sculptor once told me something similar, that a masterpeice begins by evaluating the site so as that the end product is entirely dependent upon its site and that when it is out of place, it is only a tangle of steel, worth only so much as the scrap yard will give for it.

[sevfiv]

The Royalton on Allen Parkway has a wall of the Gulf Publishing building (1928) on the front side (it was demolished to make way for the condos).

[NenaE]

sevfiv, on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 6:28 PM, said:

The Royalton on Allen Parkway has a wall of the Gulf Publishing building (1928) on the front side (it was demolished to make way for the condos).

I noticed several bldgs. on Washington that had new bldgs. built onto (above) the existing historic structures...apts, lofts...at least they didn't just bulldoze old for new.

[crunchtastic]

Did they decide exactly how to incorporate into the park? There were a couple of ideas--a free standing gate sort of thing, and bolting it on as a new facade to the building in front of the pool.

[musicman]

names, on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 5:06 PM, said:

Is it a failure to preservationist's POV that Metro cannot accommodate the existing building area?

i wonder whether easthood park is like the macgregor park land that the city of houston ended up losing because they did not meet the original donor's requirements. that land was meant to be utilized as a park but houston had other visions and lost the land. i.e. if they try and take any part of the park, the land reverts back to the donor.

[NenaE]

musicman, on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 10:46 PM, said:

i wonder whether easthood park is like the macgregor park land that the city of houston ended up losing because they did not meet the original donor's requirements. that land was meant to be utilized as a park but houston had other visions and lost the land. i.e. if they try and take any part of the park, the land reverts back to the donor.

I don't know, but I like that idea. There needs to be a balance between concrete & grass. Especially in a place like rainy bayou Houston. Not to mention how it makes the city look.

[LTAWACS]

Pardon my lack of knowledge about this building but... what is so historic about it? It looks like most other small art-deco buildings... did something significant happen here? Just curious.

[kylejack]

They're only going to save the top.



So far, dumb ideas.






http://swamplot.com/...age/2009-09-02/

This post has been edited by kylejack: Friday, September 4, 2009 at 10:53 AM

[marmer]

LTAWACS, on Friday, September 4, 2009 at 10:38 AM, said:

Pardon my lack of knowledge about this building but... what is so historic about it? It looks like most other small art-deco buildings... did something significant happen here? Just curious.

There weren't that many, really, and it's one of the last survivors. It lasted long enough to be cool again. Beyond that, not so much beyond being fairly distinctive on a small scale.

[editor]

Considering the great job done with preserving Houston's Carnegie Library, I think we have nothing to fear.

Oh, wait...

[NenaE]

lets visit it again, http://www.houstonde.../sterlaund.html
maybe the introduction will help shed some light for you, LTAWACS. I would guess it's historically important because there are so many examples of this style disappearing in this city.

[crunchtastic]

NenaE, on Friday, September 4, 2009 at 4:59 PM, said:

lets visit it again, http://www.houstonde.../sterlaund.html
I would guess it's historically important because there are so many examples of this style disappearing in this city.

Particularly in the east end.

While they are not significant with a clock feature, off the top of my head in my own neighborhood there is also the building at Polk and Scott (now the Latino Learning Center)and a panaderia on McCkinney, between Scott and Cullen. Many more buildings with a less pronounced deco facade but from the same period, many of which are still in use.

I don't have a copy, but I think these are featured in the Deco Houston book that was fairly recently published. Hmm. Need to get that book.

[TheNiche]

crunchtastic, on Friday, September 4, 2009 at 7:08 PM, said:

Particularly in the east end.

While they are not significant with a clock feature, off the top of my head in my own neighborhood there is also the building at Polk and Scott (now the Latino Learning Center)and a panaderia on McCkinney, between Scott and Cullen. Many more buildings with a less pronounced deco facade but from the same period, many of which are still in use.

I don't have a copy, but I think these are featured in the Deco Houston book that was fairly recently published. Hmm. Need to get that book.

Don't forget about the former Weingarten store on Telephone Rd., presently an HISD building if I'm not mistaken.

[Subdude]

editor, on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 2:10 PM, said:

Vice Mayor Pro Tem Sue Lovell, District H Council Member Ed Gonzalez, and At-Large Position 3 Council Member Melissa Noriega are pleased to announce that a historic structure in Houston's East End-the Sterling Laundry & Cleaning Co. façade at 4819 Harrisburg Blvd.-has been saved. This was accomplished through an effort between the Council Members, METRO, and leaders of the surrounding neighborhood. The façade will be saved and then relocated to Eastwood Park, where it will remain a part of the streetscape on Harrisburg, as it has been since 1935.

As chair of the City of Houston historic preservation committee, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Lovell thanks all the partners who have participated in saving this historic structure. "These are the kinds of partnerships that are needed to save our history as the city continues to grow and develop."

The press release goes on a bit too much about their saving a historic structure when all that is being retained is the facade. Their intentions are blameless of course, but all the same I'm always vaguely annoyed at architectural tokenism - the idea of substituting true historic preservation with saving bits and pieces and calling it preservation.

[editor]

Sorry... late again with this one. Pacific time is killing me.



------------

METRO TO PRESERVE ART DECO FACADE / REMOVAL SET FOR TOMORROW

METRO will preserve the historic clock tower of the old Sterling Laundry and Cleaning Company on Harrisburg. It will be moved to a temporary storage location tomorrow morning.
METRO, city and county officials, and East End community leaders worked together to preserve the facade at 4819 Harrisburg, which is located just feet from the light-rail line now under construction.
In cooperation with city officials, the preliminary plan calls for relocating the clock tower to Eastwood Park, creating a permanent monument or gateway to the park. METRO has made a financial commitment to support these efforts, while the city will be responsible for executing the installation of the facade and for the future maintenance of the facade in its new, permanent home.
Crews are set to remove the clock tower portion at 8 a.m., weather permitting. With the help of the Greater East End Management District, the clock tower will then be transported to a storage facility at the Buffalo Bayou Partnership while future plans are finalized.

The clock tower’s placement at Eastwood Park also supports the community’s on-going efforts to beautify the park, and reinforces METRO’s commitment to respond to community needs during light-rail construction.
-----------------------

And by "tomorrow" they meant "today" my time, which is currently "yesterday" Houston time. Also known as Friday, September 25th.

[JLWM8609]

kylejack, on Friday, September 4, 2009 at 10:52 AM, said:

They're only going to save the top.



So far, dumb ideas.






http://swamplot.com/...age/2009-09-02/

The community center one doesn't look "dumb" at all. At least it will still be used as a building and not as a bus stop bench.

[NenaE]

I saw a brief channel 11 news flash this last week, showing the removal of the facade. I also like the community center bldg. idea...at least it wasn't completely lost to rubble.

[TheNiche]

There's a gaping hole in the building now where that portion of the facade used to be.

I sincerely wish that they'd just have torn it down instead having opted to defile its genuine memory.