almadenmike

Ross -- Is this the Castle Court property that intrigued you? If so, I agree that the buildings at the 7 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions on the left side of that circle do look interesting. (1944 Google Earth Pro view below)

Thanks, Ross. It does look like a school building to me, too. However, I see in this Feb. 23, 1919, Houston Post article (p.34, pasted below) that the Montrose School appears to be two-story, not three. Was there another one on that campus. (In several articles about the Montrose school, I see mention of an administration building, but I haven't (yet) found if this news photo shows that ... or other photos that specifically show that building or say if it's 3 stories high.)

Here is a portion of a 1920 photo looking north past Rice University's Lovett Hall. (The full photo was posted yesterday on the Rice History Corner blog: https://ricehistorycorner.com/2018/04/11/wm-rice-institute-houston-tex-1920/) Might someone here identify the three-story building on the horizon, near the right edge of this cropped image?

I also ate many luscious Someburgers made at that stand across from Rice when I was an undergrad there. I remember being surprised when it was suddenly torn down, sometime in the late 1960s. I went to inspect ... and saw my first rats ... (!!!) ... a dozenor more milling about amid the debris of their destroyed abode. I nearly fainted ... and felt very thankful that I hadn't, afaik, gotten sick from any of the many burgers I'd eater there.

It's so sad to read about the decline and demise of this Fire Station (and the Smith Square Apartments). I lived in SS (7605 Phoenix) in the early 1970s while in grad school at Rice. The fire station was the voting place for our precinct, which extended from the Astrodome (Judge Roy Hofheinz voted there) to Southampton. In 1972, I helped organize the apartment residents and we surprised and defeated the incumbent, a George Wallace supporter, as Democratic Precinct Judge. The Houston Oilers training complex was nearby, on the north side of Braeswood and south of the bayou.