MidCenturyMoldy

Rodeway Inn

1 hour ago, Houston19514 said:

The hotel did not start off as a Ritz-Carlton.  It was built in 1982 and was originally The Remington and was managed by Rosewood.  It became a Ritz-Carlton in 1986.

Remington (Rosewood)… Ritz… Regis. I sense a pattern.

4 hours ago, LosFeliz said:

I expect we will eventually get a Ritz but it will be a mix of condos and hotel rooms. I'd love to see it Downtown but it will most likely end up along Post Oak/Galleria area.

The St. Regis started off as a Ritz-Carlton. I don’t remember how long it remained a Ritz-Carlton.

On 1/13/2023 at 3:46 PM, mkultra25 said:

Ran across a Mold-A-Rama history site containing some scans of an interesting period article about the building when it first opened. For those who aren't aware, the building originally had a coin-operated Mold-A-Rama machine installed on the floor that was publicly accessible as an observation deck, from which you could obtain your own plastic injection-molded replica of the building.

Humble Oil Building

My dad worked in that building when it first opened. While visiting him to see the building, we went up to the top (Oooh! Ear-popping elevator!) and I got a Mold-A-Rama Humble Building. What I really wanted was a Mold-A-Rama Domed Stadium. 😡

Somebody tell Ralph it's 44 stories, not 45. And it was completed in 1963, not '62. I mean, really! 😉😄

Just found this from The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/dec/05/houston-texas-jesse-h-jones-the-endowment-headquarters

3 hours ago, EllenOlenska said:

This whole thing is gonna weird me out when it turns out exactly like its renderings. 

IKR! I thought there were building codes prohibiting that.

On 11/23/2022 at 7:43 AM, ChannelTwoNews said:

That one is by Deiso Moss and it is proposed for 43 stories.

“We acquire, develop and mange…”. 😮 

Like we really need any more mangy buildings.

From the same link:

2120 Post Oak Blvd.

Deiso Moss is developing a 43 story mixed use tower on the coveted Post Oak Blvd in Houston, TX. The tower will consist of 25,000SF of retail, 100,000 square feet of office and 350 multi family apartments.

How many families in each apartment? More than three is considered a downscale elegance.

2 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

Are there any examples of nice looking storage facilities in Houston?

I doubt it. Which is a good reason not to put any of them directly on Montrose Blvd.

1 hour ago, toxtethogrady said:

I think the vertical banding tends to get lost at a distance. At least it's not blank masonry.

“Vertical banding” is such a nice way to describe corrugated metal. 

A year late, but, it is Rockefeller's. 

7 minutes ago, kennyc05 said:

We just need a little more organization and we'll be good!

And maybe a few sidewalks... without parked cars blocking them... that continue without just disappearing. And no ditches along the street like Rice Military would be an improvement. 

46 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

Yep, in all the cities I've visited all of them felt like villages with big buildings. Houston seems to finally be trending towards a more intimate, urban landscape that feels more tightly knit and cohesive. 

What's interesting is, when I first starting going back to Houston (as often as I possibly could) after (unwillingly) moving to Alamo Town, it struck me how much denser and "tighter" Houston feels than SA. Not just downtown, but all over the Inner Loop. It first really struck me on Waugh, driving from Memorial to my friends' place in Montrose.

ETA:Let me add that Downtown San Antonio is a totally different story. 

2 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

There's really nothing special about how Houston builds other than it combines all forms of residential as one group and commercial as another with no sub groups like in traditional zoning. Houston let's the market and the developer determine what get's built and it's actually created neighborhoods that make more sense and are more organic than over regulated neighborhoods in other cities. 

😄 Yeah, I've heard that schpiel before. Listen, much as I'm loathe to admit it, I'm an old-timer Houstonian. The old-timer part is what I don't like admitting. My earliest memory of my hometown is when we moved back in 1962.

Rome is organic. Houston is a mess. But, like the drunken mess of an uncle who looks and sounds like Bill the Cat,

it's our mess and we love it. Most of the time. Some of the time. Sort of. 

OK, we know where to find the good stuff and love the food. And it's getting better. Except for that cr@ppy corrugated metal storage box.

1 hour ago, clutchcity94 said:

I do think it’ll look better when they actually finish construction, fix the sidewalks, hopefully plant some trees, etc.

💄on a 🐖

16 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

Views change. I guess you don't want anything on the lot behind the garage either? I get your point but I'd rather have density and people. 

As I said, I was responding to the hotel’s ad. If I were a guest enjoying the pool area, I’d much rather see that skyline view than look at a fairly nondescript apartment tower. Not everything is about what I personally want. I doubt I will ever stay at that hotel, so yeah, for me personally, on the street or in Discovery Green, I prefer the new tower there. But as views from the hotel go, it kills what they had. 
 

ETA: I suppose the view of the pool is what “never gets old” to them. Honestly, I cringed when I first saw they were going to have a Texas-shaped pool. I’d rather see the skyline than the pool. I feel much more connected to Houston than I do to Texas. 

On 11/4/2022 at 6:06 AM, 004n063 said:

I think "fancy development promotional" is my least favorite writing style.

 

"upscale elegances"

It specifically appeals to the types of people who don't want "downscale elegances." 

On 9/10/2022 at 3:28 PM, hindesky said:

 

 

 

HOLY CR@P! 

Sometimes I think Houston developers should be officially designated “domestic terrorists.”

Pardon my ignorance on this, I haven’t been following this thread. Is this really being built… a self-storage on Montrose next to the bridge? Honestly, this is the kind of thing that happens so often in Houston and makes me feel more a more like giving up on my hometown. 😩
 

NEVER MIND! I didn’t make it to the last page.  I see it’s already there! 

On 11/4/2022 at 10:00 AM, bobruss said:

I'm glad it never went through. The overall design looked like a 32 block walled city. It was very brutalist and not very inviting. It did the same thing the tunnels do in my estimation. Take people off the streets! It was a poor decision to just come in and take everything down like they did, And I'm sure we lost some great little buildings that would have created a nice human scale area for retail, dining and entertainment.

It would have been terrible, although it would have made a great location for filming movies about dystopian futures.

On 11/2/2022 at 10:51 PM, Ross said:

Chinatown died because the people that lived and did business there moved out to the new Chinatown off of Bellaire Blvd. Chinatown was still going pretty strong in 1991 when my wife and I started dating. We would go to the Sun Deluxe Café, Lucky Inn(I think that was the name), and a couple of other places. The kung fu movies were still going strong at that time, as was Kim Son. When we moved to Midtown in 1998, we still went to many of those places, but it was becoming obvious that the center of mass was moving out West, where the larger Asian population was living. The Vietnamese places in Midtown stuck it out longer, but they eventually went West as well.

The Houston Center area was dead before the buildings were razed. The 80's made it worse. The oil bust then was worse than you could imagine. I went back to school because there were no jobs. Fortunately, when I graduated in 1989, the jobs had started to come back.

No one would have been willing to pay the taxes on buildings that made no money at all, least of all the Houston Center developers. Razing the buildings did no harm as far as I can tell.

And, let's not forget that Houston is a tear it down city. It always has been. 

I miss Sun Deluxe and Lucky Inn and the rest of old Chinatown so much. Around 1976, Sun Deluxe was the place that taught me that I actually DID love Chinese food after the terrible stuff I had when I was a kid.

20 minutes ago, 004n063 said:

I mean, I could never afford to stay in that hotel either way, buy I prefer the view that doesn't have empty lots and parking garages.

 

Unless I'm in Switzerland or Glacier National Park or something, urban density will always be my favorite view.

Honestly, I find that mystifying. Something could have been built there that didn’t block the view. But anyway, my comment was in response to the hotel’s advertisement stating the view never gets old. My response to that is there is no view anymore. The terrific view from the pool area especially has been totally obliterated. Again, I’m responding to the hotel’s ad.

11 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I mean it is what it is. I'd rather have that building there than the empty lot

Are you guys kidding? (I’m including emoji reactions to my post.) I guess I look out, not down.

Previous view 👇

I would have stayed in that hotel for this view alone.👆Now there’s not much point.
 

On 9/24/2022 at 10:01 AM, hindesky said:

"This view never gets old. Experience it for yourself..."

The view may never get old, but it has definitely gotten smaller... which is my only complaint about the location of the new building. 
 

Edited to add: Previous view. 👇