Historic Houston Demolished Buildings

[Subdude]

Don't know the names of the buildings off the top of my head, but they demolished the McDonald's at Main and Capitol which replaced something else. Now the place is a parking lot. Another large building was imploded for an 80-level supertall, which was never built.

 

It took a while, but that Main & Capitol location will be the site of Hines 609 Main buildings.

 

The second was I think the Southwest Tower which stood across the street from Tenneco.  It was torn down to make way for the Bank of the Southwest Tower which was cancelled at the last minute.  

 

The entire Lamar Hotel / C&I Building block was demolished for a Hines tower that was likewise cancelled.

[IronTiger]

Yeah, that's it.

[blue92]

1. meyer speedway, was located behind playland park (before astroworld)--playland park--used to be on south main/ost area

 

Meyers Speedway was never behind Playland Park, there was a race track behind Playland but it was owned by the owner of Playland Park. Meyers Speedway was on south Hwy. 90 at Hillcroft. When I was a kid our house was on the other side of S. Main St. across from Playland and I went to stock car races there at Playland and Meyers Speedway once Playland was closed in the early 60s. I watched A.J.Foyt get his start in stock car racing at Playland then he moved over to Meyers once that track opened.  

 

[Houston19514]

Thought it'd be fun to do an update.

 

 

Thought it'd be fun to come up with a list of places where a significant structure or business was demolished, and now it's just a vacant lot -- development didn't work out for some reason.

Astroworld Still vacant
Carousel House  New house constructed on the site
1Waverly (Glassman Shoemake Maldonado house)  Still vacant? 
State Grille/Confederate House/Black Angus  40 story apartment tower under construction on the site.
 

 

 

[readam]

Cellar Door Restaurant on first floor of the  old Fannin Bank Bldg Holcombe and Main don't know what it is now but there were quite a few around town on OST, Hwy6 and Westpark, Stella Link/Weslayan mostly new businesses

[Michelle C]

1. meyer speedway, was located behind playland park (before astroworld)--playland park--used to be on south main/ost area

2. majestic theatre, 908 rusk, january 29,1923--the 3rd one--first theatre with air conditioning in houston, 1971 demolished

3. metropolitan theatre, 1018 main (next door to the lowe's theatre)--december 25th, 1926--2300 seats at a cost of $2 million--1973 demolished

4. west end ball park, 1905--was located at andrews and heiner streets just south of downtown--under what is now the pierce elevated--made

entirely out of wood, single level--seating for 35,000--the salary for the players in those days was around $100 per month--players had to

provide their own uniforms, shoes, socks and gear--then they build buff stadium, just north of I-45 at cullen (the location of the finger's

furniture store) ---there was the knot hole gang--white boys between the ages of 7 and 16--i.d. cards cost 25 cents

5. san jacinto high school--home of the golden bears and the gauchos (the girls drill team) located on holman--the same building where the

hcc main campus is located now. the last class was in 1969.

6. lennox bar b que--5420 harrisburgh--60 + years in houston--i believe it closed earlier in 09

7. the ranch house restuarant--was located on telephone road near hobby airport--had the best po boy sandwiches in texas

8. mizes bakery--was located in gulfgate mall near the old bank--great sandwiches

9. crystal pool--was located on south main about a mile north of 610--an olympic size swimming pool, hockey games, 3 diving boards, water slide

and the imfamous Bubble (located at the bottom of the deep end of the pool--12 ft i think--you could swim underneath the bubble and breathe

in a canopy shaped bubble

10. the shamrock hilton located on holcombe blvd--built by glenn mccarthy--had too many things to mention here--look it up

11. the capital building of texas--at one time located on broadway near the overpass and shanghai reds near the ship channel--the name of the

town then was harrisburg, tx--the capital twice before it moved to austin,tx

12. princess' drive-in-----one on cullen near the university of houston and one on main in downtown houston and there was one on federal road

at market st.

13. alabama theatre--located on alabama just north of 59--was cautus records for a while and then a book store

14. tower theatre--located on main st near montrose--one of the last live performances was the best little whore house in texas

15. telephone rd. drive-in between hobby airport and pearland--king center drive-in near mykawa rd and bellfort area--there were also 6 screens

off of 610 where all the big warehouses are now--also airline drive--and one off of clay rd and one off of shaver near spencer--also who can

forget the redbluff drive-in............the broadway theatre was near milby h.s.--the navaway used to be on navigation near 76th--the santa rosa was on

telephone road near gulfgate mall--and the theatre across the bridge at gulfgate

16. astroworld/waterworld

17. sonny look's restuarant--main st at 610 the best steaks in houston

18. nick's fish market--1st floor of first city bank downtown--$40 abalone steaks--each table had it's own private telephone

19. cutter bill's western wear near the galleria--a backroom bar to loosen their customers up a little--federal agents raided the store--impounded

all merchandise and auctioned off everything that the owner had, including the store's landmark golden horse

20. the esquire club on hempstead highway--i think the building might still be there but not by much

21. the carousel motel near reveille and gulfgate

22. sears department store--one downtown underneath 59 and the one on harrisburg between garcia and wayside--had the best candy counter

and hot fresh popcorn--the cashews tasted so good

23. frizzelle pontiac was located on harrisburg (where thunderbolt transmission is now, maybe) it had a big indian statue out front

24. richie's department store was located on canal at 76th--almost like the dollar stores that we have now--great stuff

25. armco steel and baytown works--was located on federal road between the washburn tunnel and market st--they filmed robocop there

 

Meyer speedway was not located behind Playland Park. That would be Playland Speedway. Meyer speedway was located futher out South Main at Hilcroft. Playland was located just north of Murworth on South Main St.

 

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

 

 

19. cutter bill's western wear near the galleria--a backroom bar to loosen their customers up a little--federal agents raided the store--impounded

all merchandise and auctioned off everything that the owner had, including the store's landmark golden horse

 

 

this is now Treasures.

Before it became Treasures, they resurrected the Cutter Bill's name, but, since it had been so long since the original CB had been shut down none of the recent Houston transplants got the name's heritage, so it flopped

[Purpledevil]

I don't remember the number of it, but the Pig Stand we always went to when I was young was on the corner of Houston Ave and White Oak. I went to the #7 on Washington a couple of times before it closed, thankfully.

The Alabama was never Cactus Records & Tapes. After it quit showing movies, the Bookstop came in. That lasted some 20+ years, then it closed and Trader Joe came along and finally killed the old girl. Cactus is in the same strip, just never occupied the theater's spot.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Purpledevil