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Archbishop Fiorenza Plaza - 1111 Pierce Street (Former 1911 Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart)


j_cuevas713

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IIRC, that's been the plan ever since announcement of the construction of the Co-Cathedral was made. 
I'm surprised it's taken this long.
Usually I'm a proponent of preserving old or historic buildings, but in this case, how likely is it that it would it be adapted to another use (food hall, nightclub, Half-Price Books....)?
And I'd call the architecture unremarkable. 
Sorry to see it go, but not shedding tears over this one.

Edited by dbigtex56
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On 2/25/2021 at 6:31 PM, dbigtex56 said:

IIRC, that's been the plan ever since announcement of the construction of the Co-Cathedral was made. 
I'm surprised it's taken this long.
Usually I'm a proponent of preserving old or historic buildings, but in this case, how likely is it that it would it be adapted to another use (food hall, nightclub, Half-Price Books....)?
And I'd call the architecture unremarkable. 
Sorry to see it go, but not shedding tears over this one.

It's not so much the architecture but more the history of the building itself. But the architecture is still pretty damn nice. It was named one of the top 13 most endangered buildings in Texas a few years back. The only thing that halted demolition the first time around was public outcry. So it was used as additional space for the church. I'm not saying it's being demolished. I just noticed a fence at the front of the property. It could have been to keep people away during the freeze. I plan on going back to the site soon. 

Edited by j_cuevas713
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It would be nice if the Church would incorporate some of the elements into a plaza in front of the present Co-Cathedral. IIRC The Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens traditionally took place outside the nave (sanctuary) so it would be appropriate to have an outdoor space for this purpose.

What about the stained glass windows? I have seen other churches donate those to another, occasionally even one of a different denomination.

In Europe, and maybe Central and South America too, it is not unusual to have a parish church next to the Cathedral. Maintaining two structures obviously costs money but it also makes sense to have weekday Mass in a smaller structure since attendance is almost always less.

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I think what will hurt most about losing this building is not simply its mere age, as though any building of a certain age is automatically great, but that it has a romantic, old world quality which downtown Houston really needs, and now one more piece of it is gone. I am not one of the people who bashed the new cathedral when it was built; I think it's great in a lot of ways, and the interior is impressive. But the exterior, especially the front, is simply harsh. Couldn't they have done an arch instead of a rectangle? It calls to mind the aesthetics of suburban McMansions with huge proportions, few details, and big screen tv's. It really looks like a Jared store, which has this same aesthetic. I think Ziegler tried hard to do make something that recalled the basilicas of Italy - I remember reading that he and his firm traveled there for inspiration - but the architectural influences of contemporary Houston were just a little overpowering.

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Edited by H-Town Man
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  • The title was changed to Old Sacred Heart Building At 1111 Pierce St.
  • 8 months later...

• 4/9/20 – Discovery of trespassers living in the rectory. Windows on second floor broken. In addition, break-in through stained glass window of church.
• 4/15/20 – Copper gutters and flashings stolen.

• 4/23/20 – Second floor window of school broken out.

• 4/24/20 – Air conditioning copper lines stolen; visible evidence of campfires burning along front wall of rectory.

• 4/28/20 – Trespasser arrested inside rectory.

• 1/28/21 – Interior patio door of rectory broken; basement garage raided for copper pipes, tubing, and wiring. Basement flooded.

•12/6/21 – Pierce Street door and multiple windows found broken and used to gain entry. Electric wiring in old school was stolen.

• 12/22/21 – Trespassers removed an 18-foot ladder from the rectory basement and used it to climb the school roof to access the wiring.

• 1/31/22 – A 2-alarm fire at parish office and rectory. Extensive damage, holes in roof and windows, fire crews find the premises to be unsafe.

• 2/1/22 – Break-in at the rectory through glass and sawing throughplywood that was supplied by an outside contractor after the fire.

 

Looking at the case history, thats a lot of break-ins over 2 years. Its a huge bummer they went with surface parking lot. -- street parking downtown is free on sunday's anyway. Huge bummer. 

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I knew this was coming at some point. What a disappointment for the area. A tiny little plaza and big ass parking lot. 90 percent of south Downtown is already parking. This along with the old Incarnate Word building are two pieces that will be missed. 

Edited by j_cuevas713
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“The Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, like many urban cathedrals, towers over the downtown landscape and draws the eye in as a visual symbol of the heart and vibrancy of the Catholic faith in southeast Texas. The impressive scale of the 28,000 square foot building seems at home among the other dominant structures that together form the skyline of the fourth largest city in America, a recently (in 2004) elevated Archdiocese, and the energy capital of the world. This new structure readily took its place among major “destination” cathedrals in the United States upon its consecration on April 2, 2008 – the same day it officially replaced the old Sacred Heart church as Co-Cathedral…

In the end, the new Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart cost $49 million, seats 1,820, and – perhaps most importantly – was designed and constructed to be able to serve the Archdiocese for 500 years. Its traditional, Romanesque architecture differed from the contemporary approach of several other U.S. cathedrals built during the same timeframe, includ- ing Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles and the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland.“

51D6610C-F854-478D-BBB5-5977DC7C44A3.png.8d67ee8d061a6786677a756e5901ce33.pngBB9BC4E7-2AC7-4E75-9FAC-AE3F27AC0C36.png.163065bcb89dc33fcdee9ca9c9eb5f45.png78A7C9DB-94C4-4E08-B6D9-FB0382E85181.png.a79b98c2142d882197e3e317162602b6.png

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7 hours ago, steve1363 said:

I'm guessing none of you HAIFers are members (or attendees) of Sacred Heart!  🤣

My wife and kid go there. I recall hearing about the old building being slated for demolition before the new building opened, along with a history lesson on how Italian immigrants to Houston did the finish work inside. The Catholic Church doesn't care what anyone else thinks, it will do what it wants and never look back.

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4 hours ago, Naviguessor said:

Spot On.  Catholic Church continues it's sins.   RIP Nicholas Clayton INW original.  

 

CW.jpg

This one still haunts me. My girlfriend went here and said the interior was beautiful. It amazes me that the church will spend all this money to build something new but fail to repair and maintain what it already has. 

Edited by j_cuevas713
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On 3/15/2023 at 11:03 PM, steve1363 said:

I'm guessing none of you HAIFers are members (or attendees) of Sacred Heart!  🤣

I go to Mass there regularly enough. One thing I’ve never had an issue with: parking. (One thing I do have issue with: Fr. Jason’s 20-25 minute homilies and mass lasting 90 minutes). Even for a very packed, high profile, weeknight funeral, parking was easy downtown. This tear down is just to get the liability of the building burning down from squatters off their insurance. The plaza idea part is alright and traditional, but the need for it to be majority parking is insane. 
 

This idea fired me up so much I finally registered an HAIF account after years of reading/lurking.

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I'm really proud of what Houston has done over the past decade or two, but this is a stain on the transformation of Downtown. It's honestly pathetic. If they can transform a freaking post office into a mall and it works great, y'all really don't think they could do something amazing with this site? All for a goddamn parking lot. Two blocks from the Downtown Transit Center! Outstanding. Even better when the pierce elevated comes down, and more prime real estate is eaten up by a surface lot.

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5 hours ago, HouTXRanger said:

I'm really proud of what Houston has done over the past decade or two, but this is a stain on the transformation of Downtown. It's honestly pathetic. If they can transform a freaking post office into a mall and it works great, y'all really don't think they could do something amazing with this site? All for a goddamn parking lot. Two blocks from the Downtown Transit Center! Outstanding. Even better when the pierce elevated comes down, and more prime real estate is eaten up by a surface lot.

Their property, their choice. If it bothers you that much, make an offer for the property and develop it as you wish. You will fail, because the Catholic Church doesn't care at all what you think.

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