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Dan the Man

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Everything posted by Dan the Man

  1. The architecture firm put up signs on the site yesterday. The project is a church, and Ziegler Cooper is the architect. Link to Project
  2. That pharmacy building is awesome. It looks like its only alteration was the addition of burglar bars.
  3. So it looks like it was intended to just be an extension of the bike lanes along Cavalcade? I agree with SilverJK - this seems like it was a wasteful project for such a short distance.
  4. I recently discovered that there is a small bike trail along Little White Oak Bayou that starts at Cavalcade and runs northwest to Enid St. The trail appears to be recently constructed, and it of the same construction standard as the trail along Nicholson. However, it does not appear that the trail is regularly maintained; grass runners and vines extend over the pavement, and grass along the trail is probably a foot high. Anyone know when this trail was built and if there are any plans to extend it further south? Potentially, it could connect to Moody Park, Woodland Park, and the trail along White Oak Bayou.
  5. I was in there before Ike and there was tons of water damage on the interior. I can't imagine what it looks like now.
  6. What is being built near the intersection of Westpark & 59? There is some serious earth work being done. The site is at the northeast quadrant of the intersection, with a service station on the hard corner. The site has been vacant for years. Someone told me that it once housed a small amusement park that shut down after a murder in the 1970s. This was seen as the beginning of the surrounding area's decline. I don't have high expectations for this site, given the state of the surrounding area, but I am curious nonetheless.
  7. Glad Spence is gone... I hated their radio commercials.
  8. Images of Captain Johns from GHPA's Houston Deco page:
  9. The book "Houston Electric: The Street Railways of Houston, Texas" has some great information about the development of Woodland Heights and the streetcar lines that served it.
  10. There was another one on Lawndale & Des Jardines. It has also been demolished.
  11. I like the clock in the second photo. Thanks for posting.
  12. Cool house, but it looks like it would take a lot to bring it back.
  13. I'd also like to see the original plans for the neighborhood. I remember reading somewhere (I think it was in that Cite article) that the subdivision originally included the land that became Forest Park Lawndale. The developers sold it to the cemetery when they had difficulty selling the lots to homeowners.
  14. Thanks for sharing your research, Nenae. However, the photos pose another question - it appears that Mr Lane's house was reduced from a two-story house to a one-story house at some point. I wonder why? Hurricane damage? Fire?
  15. It's the Village Theater. In the background of the next shot with the girls walking across the street, you can see Craig's Department Store (now Urban Outfitters). Can anyone read the cross street in that shot that shows the University Blvd street sign? I don't think it's Kirby. In the mid 1950s, the NW corner was a residence, and the SE corner was a two-story building occupied by a clothing store (now Half Price Books).
  16. Typically, stretched cotton cloth was tacked to the shiplap to hide the joints, then wallpaper was glued to the cloth. In the 1950s, many homeowners applied 1/4" sheetrock over the wallpaper. Typically, the wider the shiplap, the older the house... I wouldn't sand the surface or flip the boards over. I'd rather keep the character of the nail holes and imperfections, but that's just me. I'd just remove the nails and finish with linseed oil or orange shellac.
  17. I seem to remember the floor of Playhouse Toys had green and yellow linoleum tiles in a checkerboard pattern. Some of the tiles had clowns on them.
  18. ^ What a bunch of crap...and I mean just that! This new building lacks cohesion in its exterior design, rather it looks like a jumble of over-used and unrelated design cliches plastered onto a retail shell. The design is unnecessarily busy, and the building appears cluttered before any signage has been put up. It's a shame, since the beauty of the original buildings lied in their sleek and uncomplicated aesthetic. Edit: Upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that there wasn't too much thought put into these buildings. What's with the stucco control joint going through the middle of the can light on the second floor balcony?
  19. I blame the gradual shift away from Classical training in the curriculums of architecture schools. Many people forget that Modern Architecture adheres to Classical principals (proportions, scale, lighting, etc), despite its radically different appearance. As Modernism and PostModernism are embraced more and more, many concepts are no longer stressed as much as they probably should be. Furthermore, drawing by hand causes the one to think more about exactly what they are drawing. There is more attention to detail in hand drawing, as it takes much longer to correct something than just hitting Control + Z in CAD.
  20. The second house is in Meyerland. From the Houston Architectural Guide: "5146 Jackwood Street 1955 Parade of Homes House (1955) Burdette Keeland These blocks of Meyerland, once characterized by Larry McMurtry as the dullest subdivision in Houston, were built out with 30 houses constructed for the Houston Home Builders Association's Parade of Homes in 1955. W.K. King broke ranks with the contemporary style ranch houses and allowed Keeland to produce this flat-roofed steel-framed, Miesian courtyard house, furnished by the Knoll Planning Unit. It was so much more expensive to build than the other houses that King withheld the sales price..." I really like the first house; the wing on the left reminds me of Mies's Farnsworth House.
  21. The building on the right is a garage with the door facing the rear of the property. There is a room over the garage, with a hallway over the port couchere to connect it to the main house. Automobile access to the garage was through the port couchere, or from the alleyway along the back of the property.
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