Jump to content

mollusk

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,493

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Everything posted by mollusk

  1. mollusk
    That would be a part of the challenge, wouldn't it? I kinda like figuring out how to make the hoops work, personally (though I realize that ain't for everyone)> aye, Cap'n.
  2. mollusk
    You have a point in that JPMorgan Chase Tower (neè Texas Commerce Tower in United Energy Plaza) was built a few decades after the Houston Club building. Howsoever, when it was built the Houston Club building also housed operations for the National Bank of Commerce, the headquarters of which was across the street in the Gulf Building. I haven't chained out the title, but Jesse Jones was up to his eyebrows in the bank and in constructing both buildings, regardless of how many different entities were actually the nominal owners. National Bank of Commerce merged with Texas National Bank to become the Texas National Bank of Commerce (complete with really twangy radio jingle about "all the bank you'll ever need" - thanks for the earworm, Bud), later shortened to Texas Commerce Bank, subsequently assimilated by the Borg Chase singularity. The easement idea makes sense from a legal standpoint. It's creative, and it works. Ya gotta love the mano a mano involved in having a parking space that you simply won't sell at any price under a price where it makes sense to go ahead and literally blow up its previously attached building.
  3. mollusk
    The painted on beige, brick-esque substance looks like painted on, beige, brick-esque substance. Soylent beige, if you will. Surely there is some way to at least simulate texture. People will all be whisked in by cabs and rail. Seriously, it's prolly going to be valet - just like the Icon, Magnolia, Sam, etc... edit: And for that matter, the Hyatt, with its giant attached garage.
  4. mollusk
    Beige can be so soothing...
  5. mollusk
    "That vision thing" is quite the question, particularly in the context of the Bush the Elder statute across the street.
  6. mollusk
    The plaid terrazzo really grew on me over the years. I can't figure out why they decided to draw an arc into it, much less an arc of white that is going to look really grubby really fast under all those dining tables. Dang kids.
  7. mollusk
    This was one of the claims in the Ashby High Rise case that actually got some traction - though as with almost any other engineering issue, it can be handled.
  8. mollusk
    You are correct, Sir. http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/Building/2136/The-Magnolia-Hotel.php
  9. mollusk
    We know that there used to be a variety other buildings on that site, and that they've been gone long enough that who knows what sort of foundations or basements or fill they had, or how deep. My guess is they're just surveying to get background numbers for foundation design.
  10. mollusk
    I pretty strongly suspect that neither Southampton's and nor Boulevard Oaks' deed restrictions would have permitted Maryland Manor, either. If they do, it would just about have to be in some sort of a predecessor of the "reserve" areas on the periphery of more recent subdivisions with different restrictions that would have permitted a multifamily use without foreseeing high rises decades later.
  11. mollusk
    I've had the same problem. "Feh," however, somehow stays in place. I suppose utter indifference is simply unacceptable - we have to have at least some minor degree of contempt.
  12. mollusk
    I'd most like to see 45 tunneled; however, I'd rather it stay in its current alignment and elevation than rerouted to 10/69. If everything snakes around via 10/69, we'd end up with our own version of Atlanta's Central Artery (now that is a jewel during a peak traffic time that seems to last all day), and no alternative limited access routes in the event of an accident or other major tie up.
  13. mollusk
    On one of the familiarization tours one of the judges went on and on and on and on about how this building would be called a "courthouse" and not "courts building," and how it needed to "look like a courthouse." In a sense, it does - if the courthouse in question somehow got mashed up with the Devil's Tower formation legend, with a dome thrown on as an otherwise useless tiara. Thanks for the new topic.
  14. mollusk
    I stand corrected.
  15. mollusk
    Annnnnd it peeks above grade...
  16. mollusk
    There was a crane hoisting some big grate looking material either on or off a flatbed trailer. The water chiller is still on the roof, so there may be another blocking in the future.
  17. mollusk
    OK, how about more homogeneous than a half gallon of Borden's? By income stats, by place of birth, by any measure, The Woodlands is far less diverse than Houston as a whole. Even the boosterish first chart showed that, albeit to a lesser extent.
  18. mollusk
    Do you, or does someone you love, post photos? There can be help for that...
  19. mollusk
    Bonus - all you have to do to go in and check it out is have a critter in need of veterinary care.
  20. mollusk
    Here's some more... http://www.areavibes.com/the+woodlands-tx/demographics/ Whiter than Wonder Bread.
  21. mollusk
    (*chortle...*)
  22. mollusk
    According to the notice I got, to facilitate demoing that side of the building.
  23. mollusk
    Mother of mercy those windows and spandrels came out fast. I would swear that they were there yesterday. That block of Travis will be closed from 8 PM this evening until 5 AM Monday.
  24. mollusk
    Funny thing about the civil courthouse - while the outside deserves all the oppobrium it gets (I've called it banal and derivative), it functions very well. The courtrooms are a good size, well laid out, and are well equipped and well appointed, as are the staff areas and judges' chambers. There are four courtrooms per floor, one for each quadrant, with the lower district numbers on the lower floors and then up in numerical order. Before it was built, the civil courts were spread around among up to four or five different buildings, with a wide variation in quality among the facilities. I've seen bigger closets than some of the jury rooms that used to be in the 1910 building, and clerks' offices were sometimes on a different floor, or accessible only through the courtroom. Every time a bench became vacant there was a bit of a reshuffle, usually with the newest judge being exiled to the Cotton Exchange Building. So overall it's an improvement, cringeworthy fake dome notwithstanding.
  25. mollusk
    A lot of the elements of the proposal ended up on the final building - see http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/Building/2072/Congress-Plaza.php The bottom dropped out of the Houston economy in 1984 - the reason this got built at all was because of the county's needs. FWIW, I agree that the flat dome on top of the civil courthouse is one of the most awkward details on a building that has a bunch of them. The dome was added at the behest of the judges on the design committee (one judge in particular was rather proud of it). As a side note, that building was also designed with gargantuan file rooms and an elaborate dumbwaiter system to deal with what had been one of the more persistent problems in the prior quarters - paper files literally everywhere. As it opened, electronic filing came on line (and is now mandatory), leaving those eagerly anticipated miles of shelves...empty.
×
×
  • Create New...