RedScare Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Great. More surface parking. Downtown needs more of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 how long do you think it'll take to bring it all down? i should just leave work...heh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Is Hakeem still the slumlord on some of the other fugly buildings near by?Does he own that disaster near the steak house?They were not working on it this morning at of 8:30.Looks like they may have started yesterday. I think it'll take a little while.It took them a couple of weeks to rip out the back. Then again, those cranes are not cheap to rent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 ben milam is owned by david smith, per the "groundskeeper" (can you say of mice and men?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 okay, so the building was (mostly) there, but something or someone goofed because there were all sorts of fire/emergency crews there blocking the streets surrounding it. someone mentioned a fire in the basement Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Yep, they are performing permanent graffitti abatement. The northwest corner of the building has 10-15 feet of brick and concrete knocked out of it.While looking at it though, I saw workers at the Ben Milam (actually, in the parking garage next to Ben Milam). It looked like they were removing things from it, though I could not tell what they were removing. Could Ben Milam be going to meet it's maker, as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 As of this AM a little more progress, but not much. Where is the TNT when you need it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 (edited) i saw the ben milam workers as well....looked like railing from the garage balconies...hmmm Edited January 25, 2006 by sevfiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 i saw the ben milam workers as well....looked like railing from the garage balconies...hmmm As in...recycling the steel before the walls come down? That's why the workers were in Cenikor. They took the windows and fixtures, etc. All that's left will go to a recycling plant, too. If no one was going to rehab them, I'm fine with demo'ing them. It just irritates me that nothing will go up in it's place, except $30 parking for Astros games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToolMan Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 (edited) I hate to see this building go but it was an awesome site. It was around 12:00am and I just missed the wrecking ball pic. There was a wrecking ball, crane, bulldozer, and a guy with a firehose. Edited January 26, 2006 by ToolMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houstonian in Iraq Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Great pictures ToolMan Too bad they couldn't save this building. I really hate surface lots just as much as Coog hates storage places and Red hates drycleaners Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 as soon as the building is down (a week to two weeks, according to the foreman) i will post pictures...i have about 200 so far (but of course i'll snip it down ) the really great part is that the owner of the building (wiese i believe) is keeping the frontispiece (that reads "wm penn hotel") for himself. maybe he likes to collect mementos of destroyed buildings... anyhow, i will be there every night until it is gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 On the backside of the hotel, there used to be an old sign painted on the side of the building, probably from the 50's, that showed bus destinations to certain cities and the cost and mileage.Did anyone ever get a picture of that? i always wanted to but i forgot everytime i went to an astros game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 yes, it was on the back of ben milam...i have a picture somewhere...i'll see of i can find it On the backside of the hotel, there used to be an old sign painted on the side of the building, probably from the 50's, that showed bus destinations to certain cities and the cost and mileage.Did anyone ever get a picture of that? i always wanted to but i forgot everytime i went to an astros game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WesternGulf Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 (edited) Those pics are mesmerizing. Wow, after how many years? Another historic building taken out of the skyline. What is taking its spot again eventhough the structure is surrounded by surface lots? Please don't say nothing. Just when I thought Houston put the brakes on these type of habits in downtown. Edited January 26, 2006 by WesternGulf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 the demolition is almost painful to watch...each night, that (relatively) small wrecking ball just dinks away at it. bleh.hcad says it was built in 1956 - waaaay wrong! i have materials from william penn decades older. it was built around the time of ben milam, i believe - mid 1920's... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 yes, it was on the back of ben milam...i have a picture somewhere...i'll see of i can find it tanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 (edited) keep your eyes out for an article in the chronicle (with the help of the GHPA i believe) about this debacle...they are working on one now Edited January 27, 2006 by sevfiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 That's nuts.All the while the cement block across the street keeps on keeping on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 the demolition is almost painful to watch...each night, that (relatively) small wrecking ball just dinks away at it. bleh.I've seen smaller buildings imploded, in areas just as dense. Any ideas as to why they didn't go that route? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 (edited) I've seen smaller buildings imploded, in areas just as dense. Any ideas as to why they didn't go that route? no clue. a couple nights ago two men came over to where i was and explained that they were from north carolina and that there was no way a building would be torn down like that there with hardly any safety measures in place...(dust, debris, etc everywhere). implosion was the way to go. shortly thereafter, a bright green fiberglass bathtub fell from the 9th or so floor onto the ground Edited January 27, 2006 by sevfiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 My guess is to recycle some old bricks. They look pretty good from what I can tell. I once made a patio out of "colector bricks" from the 40s and 50s. You could make one large patio from this buidling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 yep, they are hauling alot of the bricks separately...and the cenikor sign fell last night - the blue letters shattered into a million pieces...alas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...ro/3617577.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestGrayGuy Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Kind of a shock that the Penn Hotel is being demolished. I had heard nothing about the demolition until now. Anyone know what is going in it'splace?Here is the Chron story:Historic Houston hotel under the wrecking ballBy LISA GRAYCopyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Demolition of the 1925 Penn Hotel, which quietly began Sunday, shocked Houston's preservationists, who hadn't considered the building endangered.The 10-story brick building at 1423 Texas is owned by Spire Realty, which until now has been active in rehabilitating historic buildings in Houston's downtown.The building was designed by Joseph Finger, the architect who designed many of the city's most important buildings of the era: among them, City Hall; Temple Beth Israel; Citizen's State Bank (known to most Houstonians as the home of the Rockefeller's); 701 Texas (now the Lancaster Hotel); the Jefferson Davis Hospital formerly on Allen Parkway; and the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal.Houston's preservation laws, among the weakest in the country, do not require public notification of intent to demolish a historic building unless it's in one of the city's small historic districts.For preservationists, even demolition equipment at the site didn't seem cause for alarm. David Bush, director of programs and information for the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, drives past the Penn every morning on his way to work. Even when he saw workers removing the building's plate-glass windows and tearing down a one-story addition, he said he assumed that Spire was renovating the property."It just shows you," said Bush. "Nothing is safe in Houston." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houstonian in Iraq Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 It'e been discussed here for sometime now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestGrayGuy Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 I'm a dumbass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestGrayGuy Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 So what's the story on what is going up here?Also, there are some orbs in those demolition pics above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 orbs, or massive amounts of particles and dust? spire decided to junk it (they are known for preservation... ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 What a shame. There's nothing on Spire's website to indicate that anything is happening to the property. My guess is we just got ourselves some more surface parking. Yippee. Parking is in such short supply around the Juice Box. Not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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