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The Menil Collection At 1533 Sul Ross St.


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My guess is you misunderstood the report. They quoted the Menil spokesman, who happened to be in Germany at the time. The people doing the restoration were in Houston.

Oh well... I would blame it on being still drunk from the night before but we can just call me dumb and everything will be ice cream.

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Nothing against the folks who live there (I used to know some people who did) but I'm all for that being torn down and the Menil expanding.  Perhaps they will expand into the realm of private arts intensive school?  Regardless it will be nice to see a unified campus of the Menil extend into and outward from the neighborhood a bit more.

 

As a former "Inner Looper" it is increasingly difficult to live in the nicer neighborhoods with a more modest income.

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I got a scoop on the Menil. Heard that Richmont Square Apartments will be torndown and that this land will be used for the expansion/campus. No word on the Byzantine Chapel however.

If true, that will really make affordable apartments in Montrose even harder to come by.

 

It has been known for some time that the Richmont apartments would be redeveloped by Menil. There was even a rendering depicting how the property could be redeveloped. I believe the proposal included residences, retail, and exhibit space. The renderings are on the previous page.

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I went to the Menil state of the museum panel discussion.

They are tearing part of the western side and the back that backs up to the houses on Branard. They are going to build the drawing cente r being designed by a young architecture firm from the west coast. They should be getting images fairly soon. I think the empty lot with the large oak next to the Twombley will be opened up to have a walkway to the center.

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You don't mean they are tearing out part of the Piano designed museum out? I'm not clear on what you just posted bobruss?

No, I was referring to the Richmont apartments. I live in one of the Menil houses that the apartments back up to. From what I could tell from the talk is they will redo the parking lot and cafe first while waiting for final plans for the drawing center, and I think they will build the drawing center in the area of the old n.w. Corner of the apartments and open up the fence next to the Twombley building to create a promenade to connect drawing center and Richmond Hall to the campus. They also have plans for another Twombley type space for another star artist they are courting. They also want to build a lecture hall eventually, but I don't think it will happen in my lifetime. They also recognize the importance of the bungalows and plan on renovating. As I posted before I think this neighborhood with it collection of bungalows will become an important part of their collection as one of the only intact contiguous neighborhoods of its era.

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They are planning to tear them all down but in phases. Those apts. represent a lot of revenue and they will keep as many as possible until a time when they can afford to turn the remaining space into some kind of commercial space that is in keeping with the overall campus. Definitely no hi rises.

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does anyone know if they are planning on reopening the Byzantine Fresco Chapel in the new master plan? i know the frescos went back to Cyprus or wherever, but it looked like it was a neat chapel and seems like they could house something else in it.

They are in discussions to use the space for long extended exhibits.

Apparently Francois Menil was not interested in seeing the space used for anything else since he designed it specifically for the Byzantine frescoes, but over time this solution seems agreeable.

I'd like to see what James Turrell could come up with.

It has a retractable roof already. That's how they extracted the frescoes.

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They are in discussions to use the space for long extended exhibits.

Apparently Francois Menil was not interested in seeing the space used for anything else since he designed it specifically for the Byzantine frescoes, but over time this solution seems agreeable.

I'd like to see what James Turrell could come up with.

It has a retractable roof already. That's how they extracted the frescoes.

That's a neat idea. Something needs to be done with it. I was bummed I couldn't take my mother in there because she likes chapels and it seemed really neat.

I thought it would be cool for James turrell to go crazy with the underground cistern thing in buffalo bayou park. I love his work

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