Subdude Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 Cotton Exchange Building proposal, 1921 http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/CottonEx.jpg Sterling Hotel, late 1920s http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/SterlingHotel.jpg McCarthy Center, 1945. Hotel and garage only built. http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/McCarthyCenter.jpg Red Wolf Hotel, Medical Center, 1948 http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/RedWolf.jpg Adams Petroleum Center, 1954. The base was built but the tower was not. Base now demolished. http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/APC.jpg Rice Motel, 1960. Main at Prairie http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/RiceMotel.jpg Jetero Airport, 1961. Redesigned. http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/Jetero.jpg Savoy-Field office building, approx. 1964. Hotel and garage only completed. http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/SavoyField.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 4, 2005 Author Share Posted July 4, 2005 Allen Center original plan. The first two towers were completed to plan. A planned shopping mall under a glass roof and a theater (lower right) were never built. Del Oro development. View is intersection of 288 and the South Loop. Houston Center. The mother of all developments. Only towers were built according to the original master plan. United Bank Plaza. The section on the left was never built. Menil Guest House by Luis Barragan, 1984. This would have been built adjacent to the Menil Collection. Main at Congress development for redevelopment of First National Bank building. Phillip Johnson design for Cullen Center. The site ultimately became the Continental Center. Bank of the Southwest 1700 Travis - Campeau Building Block 265 proposal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunstar Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 Can we go ahead and officially add Ballpark Place and the Shamrock to this list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 4, 2005 Author Share Posted July 4, 2005 Luminaire Houston, by Century Development and Skywalker Development/Lucasfilms. This was a retail and entertainment redevelopment of the old Albert Thomas Convention Center, slated to open in 1992. e-Square. The "e-" name is a great 1990s touch, and is also a clue to the name of one of the developers. Wedge Building annex Ritz Carlton Hotel, Fannin St. The building on the left has now been demolished. Renaissance Hotel, San Jacinto. Another idea for the old Texaco building. Six Houston Center AIM headquarters, Greenway Plaza Spirit of Houston statue Landry's Aquarium Observation Tower Astrodome space theme park proposal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 4, 2005 Author Share Posted July 4, 2005 The Monaco The Hadley Ballpark Place Ar'talia Herrin Lofts Museo Lofts proposal for Montrose Should there be a slot here for the Shamrock Tower? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 4, 2005 Author Share Posted July 4, 2005 See Part 4! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomv Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 Very entertaining! Thank you. Keep it coming. First your S Main postcard collection and now this. What's next from your bag of tricks?I had forgotten all about that Luminare Center thing that predated Bayou Place. Maybe they should have built that instead, given the way it turned out.If Houston Center had been built out the way it was planned, I understand it would have turned the streets below into a dark, dreary space filled with automobile exhaust and vagrants, since most of the pedestrian activity would have been above street level in secure, climate controlled passageways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 That Landry's tower is nothing short of butt-ugly. We should be eternally grateful that for once, city leaders bowed up and said 'No!' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewMND Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 I love the AIM building pic, it's uber. Why did that one die? Did they run out of money? I have money I could donate, I was going to use this 99cents for two tacos at Jack in the Box, but what the heck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasboy Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 the dome looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasboy Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 The Herrin Lofts look awesome, but aren't they building these in a different design? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 The last one got built. Just not in Houston. Looks like it went up in Tokyo, in a smaller form (earthquake height restrictions) with a few other modifications. It's a government office building. "Sumida City Hall" - the equivalent of a neighborhood ward office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 I love the AIM building pic, it's uber. Why did that one die? Did they run out of money? I have money I could donate, I was going to use this 99cents for two tacos at Jack in the Box, but what the heck!AIM planned a major expansion and hiring a bunch of people. Then Enron broke. Then a bunch of other financial companies had scandals. They are wisely keeping a low profile until market conditions improve, and have decided not to expand. For now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 I came across a building very similar to the AIM proposal when I was in Tokyo. AIM: Atago Gren Hills Mori Tower: Cesar Pelli did the Mori building. Anyone know if he put together the AIM design, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 People probably saw the Monaco picture and decided they didn't want to live in the jungle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VicMan Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 What about the Ritz Carlton? I think Ritz should come back to Texas and build that proposed building in Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talbot Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 It's a shame really how many good things this city has passed up and chosen the ugly crap over just to take the easy way of doing things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HtownKid Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 WHy the hell didnt this stuff get built especially block 265 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 The Herrin should almost be done. I think the design is different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I thought they were still working on that building? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 The old Texaco building? Looks like they stopped work, presumably to figure out what to do with the property. Given occupancy rates downtown, it seems a pretty safe bet it won't end up as a hotel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heights2Bastrop Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 That Landry's tower is nothing short of butt-ugly. We should be eternally grateful that for once, city leaders bowed up and said 'No!'Yeah, but once they bathed it in bright blue light, it would have been transformed into a thing of beauty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Seattle's Space Needle, Houston's observation deck..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I have no idea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 The old Texaco building? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YakuzaIce Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 1700 Travis - Campeau Building <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I've never seen this building before. It definitely would have been a different design than most of the stuff we have. And it looks to be at least 75 stories so I guess around 1000 feet. Oh and I can't see the first two pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunstar Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 That Rice Motel is kind of hideous though, or at least for the proposed location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I came across a building very similar to the AIM proposal when I was in Tokyo.AIM: Atago Gren Hills Mori Tower: Cesar Pelli did the Mori building. Anyone know if he put together the AIM design, too? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The people who designed the AIM HQ were the same ones who did the new Symphony Tower, in ATL. Note the massive resemblance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Somehow, I don't miss that we never had most of these built. They may have made the skyline look a little less modern, due to the number of international style glass boxes(and generic concrete boxes) that would have been built. I do like the BOTSW, Block 256 designs, though, as well as some of the ones not pictured here (Block 261, Project X, and Y, etc). The campeau center looks like something out of Detroit, though (really old, almost genuine 20's in appearance) and may have thrown off the balance of the skyline, once again. I'm happy with what we have: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 It's a mixed bag. The Sterling Hotel looks pretty ugly, but on the other hand the Red Wolf Hotel is cool, and I really like Jetero Airport, although the design wouldn't have been too practical when it came time to expand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 The building being torn down in sevfiv's pictures is the one to the left in the Ritz-Carlton proposal. A few months ago there was a topic about tunnels that have been closed off. The door marked "garage" connected to one of those segments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 I've never seen this building before. It definitely would have been a different design than most of the stuff we have. And it looks to be at least 75 stories so I guess around 1000 feet. Oh and I can't see the first two pics.1700 Travis would have been 70 stories. Kind of ugly if you ask me. Block 265 would have been 80 stories, and the Cullen Center proposal 47. I do like the BOTSW, Block 256 designs, though, as well as some of the ones not pictured here (Block 261, Project X, and Y, etc).What were Block 261 and Projects X and Y? One that I wish I had a picture of was to convert Main Street from Commerce to Lamar into an enclosed mall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Block 261, X and Y were all KPF projects. I have renderings of them in a book I bought, titled "Kohn Pedersen Fox, Buildings and Projects, 1976-1986", by Rizzoli Publishing. X and Y were pretty tall (70,and 60 stories) while the 261 was a smaller building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Timmy Chan's Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Del Oro development. View is intersection of 288 and the South Loop. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You can *almost* see my house in that picture...I'm just across 288 from Del Oro. That particular location became townhomes/condos instead of office buildings...but very close by, the Med Center looks a lot like the rendering. Lots of offices/research buildings going up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YakuzaIce Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 You can *almost* see my house in that picture...I'm just across 288 from Del Oro.That particular location became townhomes/condos instead of office buildings...but very close by, the Med Center looks a lot like the rendering. Lots of offices/research buildings going up. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Am I the only person who can't see this picture (and the one below it)? I even tried IE and still and just copying the URL and putting it in like that. Besides BotSW and 1700 Travis (which I think would look good in a clearer color rendering) I think we got most of the good buildings during that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Block 261, X and Y were all KPF projects. I have renderings of them in a book I bought, titled "Kohn Pedersen Fox, Buildings and Projects, 1976-1986", by Rizzoli Publishing. X and Y were pretty tall (70,and 60 stories) while the 261 was a smaller building. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Scan them and post them up please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted July 9, 2005 Share Posted July 9, 2005 Del Oro development. View is intersection of 288 and the South Loop. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Personally I like the little accident on the freeway on the lower right hand side. Thart shows me that the atist really knew Houston well when he built this model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted July 9, 2005 Share Posted July 9, 2005 Also, not in that picture that the proposed tollway in the median of 288 is already built.As for the pics, I'll see if I can get them scanned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 Only one I really regret not having is that tall one in Houston Center, and maybe the second half of United Bank Plaza. Bank of the Southwest and Block 283 were great, but would have been out of scale. The Philip Johnson one was just plain ugly. I wonder if he was also the architect on the Main @ Congress building - it looks like his proposed buildings for Times Square. Good thing that didn't go up either - it would have taken out some of our best historic buildings.I wonder what the original plan for Cullen Center was like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted August 1, 2005 Author Share Posted August 1, 2005 Only one I really regret not having is that tall one in Houston Center, and maybe the second half of United Bank Plaza. Bank of the Southwest and Block 283 were great, but would have been out of scale. The Philip Johnson one was just plain ugly. I wonder if he was also the architect on the Main @ Congress building - it looks like his proposed buildings for Times Square. Good thing that didn't go up either - it would have taken out some of our best historic buildings.I wonder what the original plan for Cullen Center was like? I don't think Johnson was the architect for Main @ Congress. That was probably just the style at the moment. This is all I have for Cullen Center, again from a Fuermann book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 The Fuermann books are great, aren't they? Some of the pictures in them are fantastic. About half of the ones you find are autographed, so he must have signed like crazy. The titles are extravagant: "Houston: Land of the Big Rich," "Houston: The Once and Future City," and the pictures and drawings reflect so much optimism and bravado. That must have been a great time to live in Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trophy Property Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Hunter Wrote:"Personally I like the little accident on the freeway on the lower right hand side. Thart shows me that the atist really knew Houston well when he built this model. "That is hysterical. I nice little smash up on the freeway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perimeter285 Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 THAT IS HILARIOUS! How awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YakuzaIce Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 Am I the only one who can't see the first two pics??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 If you cannot see them, then how do you know they exist to be the 1st and 2nd pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Savoy-Field office building, approx. 1964. Hotel and garage only completed. i recently acquired this postcard, and i was SO confused about the office building part... does anyone know more about this? the current savoy has a crummy garage (about four stories) where the proposed office building sits in the postcard... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 I kind of like the Sterling but it would have been way to big for Houston in that era. I wonder what happened to Ross Sterling. After he sold his shares in Humble to Standard, he went on a building and buying spree in Houston but I guess the biggest thing he ever built was the Post-Dispatch skyscraper (22 stories, Texas at Fannin, I think, now the Magnolia Hotel). I've read that when he sold the Post-Dispatch paper, it was at auction, which kind of sounds like bankruptcy. His bio in the Handbook of Texas says after he was defeated by Ma Ferguson for a second term as gov, he came back to Houston and 'built another fortune in oil.' Then there was: SW corner of Polk and Dowling, now demolished. Referred to as a red brick oven by Post staffers. The Shamrock was a bad business decision -- too far out of downtown and too big. It was never profitable. Hilton couldn't turn a profit on it. No wonder the complex never got built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted September 23, 2005 Author Share Posted September 23, 2005 i recently acquired this postcard, and i was SO confused about the office building part...does anyone know more about this? the current savoy has a crummy garage (about four stories) where the proposed office building sits in the postcard...The crummy garage is there in the postcard. The office building was supposed to have been built on top, but I don't know why it didn't happen. If you look along the back of the hotel section there are protrusions in the building that don't make sense until you realize it was supposed to connect to the office building. Until recently there were brass "S-F" plaques embedded in the sidewalk around the Savoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 yep...i wish i could have rescued one before they were taken out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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