Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'rice university'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • General
    • Going Up!
    • Photographing Houston
    • Skyscrapers
    • Architects, Developers, Builders, and Designs
    • Historic Houston
    • Crater Houston Alliance
    • Holy Places
    • The Arts in Houston
    • Sports and Stadia
    • Moving to Houston
    • Community Announcements
  • Houston Area Neighborhoods and Places
    • Downtown
    • Midtown
    • Montrose
    • The Heights
    • Near Northside
    • Museum District/Hermann Park/Rice University area
    • River Oaks/Upper Kirby/Greenway Plaza/Bissonnet
    • Uptown and Galleria Area
    • Texas Medical Center
    • EaDo, the East End, and East Houston
    • Third Ward and University of Houston
    • Fifth Ward
    • Other Houston Neighborhoods
    • Houston Enclaves
    • Points North
    • Points Northeast
    • Points East
    • Points Southeast
    • Points South
    • Points Southwest
    • Katy and Points West
    • The Great Northwest
    • Galveston and the Gulf Islands
    • Coastal Prairie and Bay
  • Farther Afield
    • Bryan-College Station
    • San Antonio
    • Dallas/Fort Worth/Metroplex
    • Austin
    • Other Texas Places
    • New Orleans and Southern Louisiana
    • Meanwhile, In The Rest of the World...
  • Houston Issues
    • Traffic and Transportation
    • Houston Real Estate
    • Houston Construction, Home Repair, and Improvement
    • City Hall
    • Houston and the Environment
    • Houston and the Media
    • International Houston
    • Houston Area Dining, Shopping and Entertainment
  • Other
    • General Houston Discussions
    • The Weather
    • Off Topic
    • Way Off Topic
    • Classified Ads
    • HAIF on HAIF

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


Twitter


Skype


Jabber


Yahoo


ICQ


Website URL


MSN


AIM


Interests

Found 15 results

  1. For years I have been wondering if Sears will ever do something with this eyesore located in midtown. It has so much potential, I guess at one point it was actually considered a beautiful building. Sears really needs to think about bringing it back to its original form. Something needs to be done. I would prefer to preserve the building, instead of razing it . What do you all think? Article found in the Chronicle today. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/5924010.html ''It's hideous!" fumes my friend V., warming up to one of his favorite rants: the unbearable ugliness of the Sears on Main Street. "It's right there on the light-rail line! At the entrance to the Museum District! At one of the few places where Houston can look good to visitors!" V., I have to admit, has a point. Sears' tan metal siding, blotched with graffiti cover-up, gives the building's upper floors the beaten-down air of an aging ministorage unit. But even that beats the urban battle fortifications at ground level. Someone, it appears, worked hard to make the department store defensible, able to repel invading hordes of shoppers intoxicated by Vanessa Hudgens' back-to-school ads. At the Wheeler side of the building, two sets of glass double doors, blacked out and locked during business hours, present an ominous face to the street. Opaque gray film makes the official entrance's glass doors, facing Main, only a little less scary. Bricks fill almost all the former display windows; burglar bars and more of that gray film cover the plate glass that survived. Only the most intrepid seekers of Kenmore appliances would dare breach such a bulwark. What's the deal, V. wonders. Does Sears think that the urban shoppers that store serves deserve less than, say, the suburbanites at the Memorial City Mall? And for that matter, hasn't someone at Sears noticed that Midtown has gentrified around the store? Isn't there a retail audience yearning to be better served? "Don't just return," exhorts the Hudgens back-to-school ad for Sears. "Arrive." V. would like that Sears to do just that. ...
  2. I was walking around Rice Village recently (pushing a stroller) and noted how poor some of the streets/curbs and infrastructure appeared. There are numerous areas where the curbs have no ramps and you are literally forced to walk in the street or through parking lots. This is really surprising to me given the number of young families with children in the immediate area, and the proximity to the medical center (and thus likely use by people in wheelchairs.) The village is really one of the major 'public faces' of Houston to the outside world, likely to be visited by out of town families of Rice university students, and out of town medical center patients and families (I see the shuttle buses from the medical center hotels dropping them off frequently.) As such, I really can't understand the lack of investment in the roads and curbs in the village area and I'm really surprised someone hasn't brought an ADA lawsuit. Are sidewalks and curbs in commercial areas the responsibility of the city or the property owner to maintain?
  3. If you look at maps of Houston dating from the 1910s and 1920s, you'll notice a rail spur from the old SA&AP (later Southern Pacific) mainline down to the Rice campus. [The San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway paralleled today's Southwest Freeway.] One purpose of the rail spur was to service a coal power plant on the campus. Anyone seen old photographs of the rail line or the Rice power plant? It would appear the spur left the mainline and traversed what later became Greenbriar Dr.
  4. Trying to find some maps, or even photos, of William Marsh Rice's ranch south of the Rice Institute. The ranch had to be outlined, by text, at some point? A little confusing. The ranch was 10,000 acres and covered from Main & Holcombe to Stella Link, to Buffalo Speedway? The City of Bellaire was formed, from just 3,000 acres, of the 10,000 acres ranch. From the newspaper Southwestern Times dated June 24, 1948. The original portion of Westmoreland Farms, almost all of which Bellaire has annexed was composed of 3,000 acres of the 10,000 acre William M. Rice ranch. In trying to sell the property, the developers pointed out the fact that the Rice Institute was being planned and that the-- Sketch showing relative location of Houston, Rice Institute & Westmoreland Farms also Drainage Between Harris and Brays Bayous. April 4, 1912 From Westmoreland Farms to Main & Holcombe would be my guess of the 10,000 acres:
  5. I've heard from an engineer friend of mine that the Harris Gully releif project is stalled. It appears that the underground boring machine is broke down somwhere under the Dick Dowling monument and that it will take several months to fix it. Parts are coming from Germany or someplace like that.
  6. Does anyone know about the Charles Weber & Rice University saga? Apparently, Charles Weber was holding onto some valuable pig farm land that Rice wanted. Eventually, he caved in and sold to the university. Map Showing Rice Institute Property. The accompanying map shows the Rice Institute location, three miles from the center of the city on Main Street Road, the road leading right alongside the property from the South End, Southmore and Kenilworth Grove additions. The map begins at Eagle avenue. The white squared marked “Dupont” and “Charles Weber” are small pieces of property which the trustees could not secure. The Weber property having been occupied as a home and truck garden for a number of years. In the northern edge of the 102-acre tract there is a large grove of stately forest trees, while the lower portion of the sity-seven-acre tract is dotted with the large forest trees. The stream winding through the proper is Brays Bough, which will give through drainage. This stream, in addition to furnishing drainage is acceptable of terracing and landscaping. Altogether the location is ideal in every particular. Nether Proof. Lovett nor the trustees are ready to make any announcement as to the character of the buildings or educational policy, but they are all busy with these matters. Bought Land for $1000; Sells it for $56,000 An indicator of the expansion of Houston land values within the last 47 years was given Wednesday when Charles Weber and wife sold a tract of land lying opposite the Rice Institute on Main street boulevard for $6000. The tract was less than three acres and was the last of 10-acre plot bought by Mr. Weber in 1872 for $1000. The 10 acres have brought $56,000 to the owner since his original purchase. The tract across from Rice Institute was bought by R.W. Franklin, who acts as trustee for other interests. The land will not be used for furthering private enterprises, according to Mr. Franklin. The deed to the three acre tract was filed Wednesday in the district clerk's office. Record Price Paid For Main Street Acreage By The Rice Institute. Seven acres Were Purchased Yesterday From Charles Weber for a Consideration of $50,000. Seven Acres Bring $50,00 Charles Weber, a truck framer out Main street road, south of Houston sold, sold seven acres of land adjusting the site of Rice Institute for $50,000 cash. The processional at Rice's formal opening ceremonies almost had to be rerouted at the last minute for what Porcine reason? Thanks to our generous clue, all the contestants realized the answer had something to do with pigs. Despite answers ranging from runaway pigs to disparaging comments about Rice women, the real answer lies with farmer Charles Weber, who owned the last 10 acres of what would become the Rice grounds. Weber, whose pigsty lay adjacent to the processional route, refused to sell his parcel of land until the proverbial 11th hour.
  7. The highly visible plot of land on Rice's campus on the corner of Main St and University Blvd. will house The Collaborative Research Center. Designed to be LEED certified by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, the tower will contain 477,000 square feet for class/lab space for bioscience and biotech research. Rice will operate the center in conjunction with Baylor, MD Anderson, UT Health Science, Texas Children's and a host of other TMC institutions. The building will have 3 levels of underground parking and 10,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space that faces Main St. Plans call for the design to allow for the addition of another tower on top of this one and another on adjacent land...
  8. I was looking at a Houston history site and found an image of car. The caption read: Rice Airfield 1910. Anyone know of such a thing? I thought I read a Rice journal about an airport next to, or near, Rice University. Would have guessed they were speaking about the South Main airports Houston Main Street Airport & Sam Houston Airport. Could there have been an airport/airfield in Rice's backyard? Would love to know more. I'll search for that I read a while back.
  9. I have always heard William Marsh Rice owned and operated a dry goods stand. I believe I found it! Talk about a needle in a haystack. This is cool history! From the newspaper Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph dated November 10, 1865: Bargains! Bargains Immense Stock Just Received Per Steamer Wilmington, by E.R. Wells & Co Every description of Dry Goods, Clothing, Hats, Boots And Shoes, Ladies' Dress Goods Plain and Col'd French Merios, Cotton and Wool Plaids, Flannels Red, White, Yellow, Opera Flannels' Cotton Sheeting, Linen Sheetings, Canton Flannels, Tickings, Linkseys. Complete Assortment At W.M. Rice's Old Stand Main Street. Houston
  10. This comes from what Marmer mentioned in the Ashby Highrise thread about Hobby's ownership and the demolition Cullinan's Shadyside. In Johnston's The Unknown City, it just states "Joseph F. Cullinan's home, Shadyside, was the first house built in the enclave of the same name. After Cullinan's death, former Governor and Mrs. William P. Hobby bought it; it was razed in 1972 and the property given to Rice University by Mrs. Hobby." From the New York Times (10/11/87): From the Houston Chronicle (09/24/00): And Stephen Fox's Rice University: One, I didn't know Rice ever owned it, and two, do you think she really demolished the home in a fit over the neighborhood not letting her build a high rise on the property?
  11. I was browsing the City of Houston Public Library's Digital Archives and I found the Jonas Rice mansion in the neighborhood Quality Hill with an address of 2304 Crawford Street.
  12. https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/71846 The Rice University Data Center building, next to the Library Service Center. Rice owns a lot of land off the Highway 90 feeder. I went on a new running route and stopped by. Looks like dirt is being moved at the back of the property. Expansion or maintenance related?
  13. Hermann Hospital - built in 1925, maybe 9 stories, looking at the picture. The other bldg. was named Autry House (built in 1921), built as a socializing house for Rice students, was 3 stories, was on what is now Fannin St. , says was next to the streetcar stop. Thnx again AIA - Architectural Guide, S. Fox. The Rice Administration Bldg. (1912) is now referred to as Lovett Hall. Also mentions a smokestack for the powerplant , dating to 1912. Looks like it is located to the right of the entrance gates, far back.
×
×
  • Create New...