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Houston Potential Projects That Were Never Built


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It only appears so. The block adjacent to the park shops belongs to the park infront of the GRB. Besides, I remember this picture on skyscrapers.com as being 5 Houston Center before the current design was released.

I don't know which building is in that rendering, but, Montrose, you are incorrect as to the block adjacent to the Park Shops. The block adjacent to the Park Shops (which, incidentally changed its name a couple years ago to, I believe, The Shops at Houston Center), is NOT part of the park in front of the GRB.

At the time of the construction of 5 Houston Center, and I imagine when 6 Houston Center was being discussed, Crescent Real Estate owned that block adjacent to the Park Shops. I remember that during the construction of 5 Houston Center, Crescent was talking about going ahead with 6 Houston Center; I do not recall exactly what location they were thinking of. If that rendering is of 5 Houston Center, they did a really bad job of placing the building in its actual location.

Edited by Houston19514
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I don't know which building is in that rendering, but, Montrose, you are incorrect as to the block adjacent to the Park Shops. The block adjacent to the Park Shops (which, incidentally changed its name a couple years ago to, I believe, The Shops at Houston Center), is NOT part of the park in front of the GRB.

At the time of the construction of 5 Houston Center, and I imagine when 6 Houston Center was being discussed, Crescent Real Estate owned that block adjacent to the Park Shops. I remember that during the construction of 5 Houston Center, Crescent was talking about going ahead with 6 Houston Center; I do not recall exactly what location they were thinking of. If that rendering is of 5 Houston Center, they did a really bad job of placing the building in its actual location.

Your right about the block, my apologies. It is very obvious with the curving of the road, and the angle of the Fullbrite(Chevron) Tower. But that block is currently a park (Called "Houston Center Garden Block"), and will become the future park (as seen in the renderings). According to their website, they "own 14 blocks of undeveloped land, which has been designated for the new convention center hotel". I don't think they've upated their website, because I'm guessing they're talking about the Hilton Americas.

But I honestly do remember this, and even another different design for 5 Houston Center.

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That block will not be part of the new park. I believe it is this block:

February 10, 2006 - Houston apartment developer Marvy FInger has taken a land position in downtown Houston for what likely will be a high-rise residential tower, acccording to the Houston Chronicle. The Finger site, bounded by Lamar, LaBranch, Austin and McKinney, is across the street from a proposed park. Mayor Bill White has envisioned the large park as Houston's version of Central Park in New York.Nancy Sarnoff of the Chronicle reported Friday that Finger signed a 99-year lease for the block of land, which is owned by basketball great Hakeem Olajuwon, who played for the University of Houston and the Houston Rockets. Marvy Finger, head of the FInger Cos., is considered by many to be Houston's most talented apartment developer in terms of turning out a top-quality, well-designed project. Finger is also highly respected in terms of his negotiating savvy.For years, I've heard behind the scenes anecdotes of Marvy's legendary prowess at the negotiating table. If Houston's new downtown park is going to be lined with high-rise residential, having Marvy Finger involved at this early stage is a plus for White's overall downtown effort. Finger also developed the Museum Tower, a top-notch high-rise rental tower on Montrose Boulevard near Banks Street.

At the time 6 Houston Center was being discussed, I thought it was meant to be on either this block or the one adjacent to the Four Seasons.

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Your right about the block, my apologies. It is very obvious with the curving of the road, and the angle of the Fullbrite(Chevron) Tower. But that block is currently a park (Called "Houston Center Garden Block"), and will become the future park (as seen in the renderings). According to their website, they "own 14 blocks of undeveloped land, which has been designated for the new convention center hotel". I don't think they've upated their website, because I'm guessing they're talking about the Hilton Americas.

But I honestly do remember this, and even another different design for 5 Houston Center.

Now I'm confused. You said I was right about the block but then say that "that block will become the future park" What block are you talking about? Again, the block adjacent to the Shops at Houston Center will NOT be part of the future park.

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Now I'm confused. You said I was right about the block but then say that "that block will become the future park" What block are you talking about? Again, the block adjacent to the Shops at Houston Center will NOT be part of the future park.

The Building pictured ("6 Houston Center") looks like its on the block that the (now) park is. The one with the tall cypress trees in a hexagon shape. I was saying I think that block (the one with the park now) is going to be developed into the future big park infront of the GRB.

La Branch, Austin, Lamar, and McKinney Surround it.

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  • 1 month later...

The "Tallest Woman in the World?" Geez,what was up with that? With all the other challenges in our community, that's something folks would really get behind!

Kinda reminds me of something they'd do in Springfield on The Simpsons.

Plus you would really need to put something like that up on a mountain. Otherwise it might wind up looking like our Soviet-era Sam Houston memorial.

Fill me in. There must be a great story here.

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The "Tallest Woman in the World?" Geez,what was up with that? With all the other challenges in our community, that's something folks would really get behind!

Kinda reminds me of something they'd do in Springfield on The Simpsons.

Plus you would really need to put something like that up on a mountain. Otherwise it might wind up looking like our Soviet-era Sam Houston memorial.

Fill me in. There must be a great story here.

Well, it was a proposal to build a giant metal "Spirit of Houston" statue. If I remember, it would have been about 50 stories high. No location specified. The artist I think died, and so did the idea.

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yeah - i was really excited to see the pee and poo cleaned up around the texaco building and have it restored to its original beauty...oh well

oh - i almost forgot i took these a couple years ago!

texgaragedem.jpg

texgaragedem2.jpg

texgarage2.jpg

Wouldn't the imploding dynamite process be "quicker and cleaner"?

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  • 5 weeks later...
My favorite of the bunch. I sincerely hope that Wedge Group one day builds out the second tower...it'd be a wonderful place for residential and would fill out the block nicely.

I like it too, but here is what was later actually proposed to fill out the remainder of that block.

wedge201.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
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.

AllenCenter.jpg

Del Oro development. View is intersection of 288 and the South Loop.

DelOro.jpg

Houston Center. The mother of all developments. Only towers were built according to the original master plan.

HoustonCenter.jpg

United Bank Plaza. The section on the left was never built.

UnitedBankPlaza.jpg

Menil Guest House by Luis Barragan, 1984. This would have been built adjacent to the Menil Collection.

MenilGuest.jpg

Main at Congress development for redevelopment of First National Bank building.

MainCongress.jpg

Phillip Johnson design for Cullen Center. The site ultimately became the Continental Center.

PhillipJohnsonCullenCtr.jpg

Bank of the Southwest

bankofthesouthwest.jpg

1700 Travis - Campeau Building

Campeau.jpg

Block 265 proposal

Block265.jpg

Bank of the Southwest? I remember back in the 1970s I had a credit card from that bank. With all of the mergers and name changes, I would be surprised if it still has that name. If it's still a bank, what's the name of it now?

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  • 9 months later...

Old topic but had to resurrect.

If only this hotel would have been built, wow!

PS, I still say we messed up by not expanding on our "elevated" monorail system,

we dismantled it instead :wacko:

Sterling Hotel, late 1920s

SterlingHotel.jpg

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Gorgeous, but probably just as well that it was never built so we don't have to watch it get torn down for a big box store or condos. :mellow:

true, it probably would either be gone by now or rotting away :closedeyes:

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where was the sterling hotel going to be built?

Others here may know but I can only assume that chances are it would have been near others like The Rice? yes, the what could have beens will always linger....

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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:

99.jpg

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.

Sterling's memoirs Ross Sterling, Texan were just published this year by the Univ. of Texas Press. The book is available from Amazon.

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:

99.jpg

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.

Sterling's memoirs Ross Sterling, Texan were just published this year by the Univ. of Texas Press. The book is available from Amazon.

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where was the sterling hotel going to be built?

I tried to research the Sterling Hotel a few years back but I couldn't find anything. My guess is that it was proposed during the big 1920s building boom, but Sterling perhaps pulled back because of all the new hotel capacity that was added around then: primarily the Rice expansion, Lamar, and San Jacinto/Texas State hotels, and the start of the Depression soon after. I would not be surprised if the proposed location was the corner of Fannin and Texas. This is where Sterling erected the Sterling Building - the last major addition to the Houston skyline until after the Second World War.

I'm not too sad this was never built. Even though it would have no doubt been a landmark and maybe the city's tallest building, it doesn't strike me as too attractive a design, especially the heavy ornamentation on top.

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Sterling's memoirs Ross Sterling, Texan were just published this year by the Univ. of Texas Press. The book is available from Amazon.

Sterling's memoirs Ross Sterling, Texan were just published this year by the Univ. of Texas Press. The book is available from Amazon.

Sounds interesting. The chronology of Sterling's activities is confusing in sources I've seen -- just when he sold his shares in Humble to Standard and started building and buying -- or did he start that before selling?

Re: the Sterling Hotel - I understand Wyatt C. Hedrick was Sterling's son-in-law and architect for most of his buildings and also later designed the Shamrock for Glenn McCarthy.

Sort of off topic: does anybody know who designed the Texas State Hotel and was that a Jesse Jones project?

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Sounds interesting. The chronology of Sterling's activities is confusing in sources I've seen -- just when he sold his shares in Humble to Standard and started building and buying -- or did he start that before selling?

Re: the Sterling Hotel - I understand Wyatt C. Hedrick was Sterling's son-in-law and architect for most of his buildings and also later designed the Shamrock for Glenn McCarthy.

Sort of off topic: does anybody know who designed the Texas State Hotel and was that a Jesse Jones project?

Hedrick was also the architect for the Sterling Building.

The Texas State Hotel was designed by Joseph Finger. It was originally going to be the San Jacinto Hotel. It ran into financial difficulties during construction and Jesse Jones stepped in, bought it, and changed the name.

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  • 3 months later...

Can anyone figure out why they built Two Houston Center first, before One Houston Center was started? Why didn't they just call the first building One Houston Center? And the Texas Eastern Transmission Co. as a developer? Sounded like an auto parts supplier. No wonder people from other parts of the country thought we were just a bunch of hicks.

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Can anyone figure out why they built Two Houston Center first, before One Houston Center was started? Why didn't they just call the first building One Houston Center? And the Texas Eastern Transmission Co. as a developer? Sounded like an auto parts supplier. No wonder people from other parts of the country thought we were just a bunch of hicks.

plumber2, I have ALWAYS wondered that myself! For about 30 years I never understood that! :wacko:

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