tony

I'm still wondering about that 2 acre (maybe) parcel fronting the north side of Old Spanish Trail west of Cambridge and across OST from that ghetto Kroger. It has not a single tree or bush, is carpeted with grass which is mowed regularly and has sat there in its unadorned state for decades. Is that part of the Parkwood site?

Well, I was wrong, Baylor DID buy that Parkwood property. I wonder how much they paid? This is probably not good news for those trees.

The trees on the west side of the VA have been removed in preparation for sewer construction under the Cambridge extension which will span Bray's Bayou, and will connect, on the north side, by the Confederate monument at MacGregor. Supposedly there will be a connector from the South Loop to Cambridge. The Medical Center lobbied the city for several years, hoping to use Cambridge as an alternate emergency route to Fannin, which is now a couple of lanes short due to the Metrorail tracks. Cambridge Street (below OST) fronts directly on the east side of the newly completed South Campus infrastructure. The South Campus is bisected by Bertner which, I assume, will be pushed through south of Braeswood. The new Bertner bridge has been open for several months. The Parkwood Apartments property includes, I believe, a large parcel of vacant land that fronts Old Spanish Trail at Cambridge. The price of this property was supposedly $34 million, which, if that's true, would make it comprable in value to the HISD property on Richmond. Apparently there were no takers. Surely Baylor, even with its endowments, would not pay that price but it's hard to imagine this land going to a private developer because of its location ajacent to the ravenous maw of the TMC. The small neighborhood directly north of the Parkwood property fought the Cambridge project to a compromise that gives them a 30 buffer from the new Cambridge extension. The VA donated the land for this, sacrificing the trees on the east side of old Cambridge.

I lived in Lower Westheimer in the early 70s. I rented a house one lot from the corner where Numbers is now. It was large, pier and beam, two-story and made of white clapboard. It had a wide front porch painted gray with a porch swing. It was not substandard, as some of the houses in this street had become by then. At that time, Lower Westheimer was home to four or five restaurants that featured what we thought of then as Euro-style dining. Very kool. One was called Lillian's and one, Michaelangelo's, is still there. The old LaStrada was called Il Padrido's and had great pizza, which was still, in this era, somewhat of a novelty and an alternative to Shakey's. It had French doors that opened directly onto the sidewalk, as most of the restaurants there did. On weekend nights all manner of folk crowded the crumbling little sidewalks going to these restaurants. Gays, slumming surburbanites, River Oaks mavens, drag queens, hiippies. The traffic was bumper to bumper and most people would talk to us as we sat on our swing. This was long before teenagers discovered it and made a mess of things. The adult bookstore was a U Totem on its last legs. The area on either side of Westhiemer was and still is a nice neighborhood but walking it at night was always a little edgy because of the foot traffic off the Strip, as it was sometimes called. A resident of very tony Cortlandt Place, one block south of the strip, bought out several condemned properties and bulldozed them in the mid 80s, before Mr. McConnell arrived or maybe it was around the same time. I, too, miss the old LaStrada and its forerunner.

I liked how one of Pineda's articles (thanks, by the way) defined McMansion. It is any recently constructed residential structure of a neo-traditional style of an inappropriate size for its lot and of an inappropriate size for its intended inhabitants (my paraphrasing.) Who's to say what's appropriate? Those newer houses in West U surely fit that definition unless one considers the fact that West U is undeniably close-in real estate and most of those new constructions are just detached, seemingly high-quality townhouses. Would preserving a low-slung bungalow style neighborhood in that location really be appropriate today? I don't have the answer but I can offer one person's attempt at this type of preservation: Dominique de Menil's effort at saving a remnant of old Montrose in buying as many of the bungalows surrounding her planned art museum site and painting them one unifying color, Menil gray. She saved one tiny part of an old neighborhood that would surely be a primo location for McMansions and thanks to her vision, generations long after we're gone can see what Montrose was once like.

For the most part, I have to say I don't really mind what the gentrifying aspect has done to my property values. I'm increasingly nervous, however, because my rapidly escalating property taxes are also rapidly overtaking my slowly escalating cash flow. I really don't want to live outside the Loop as this is where my friends are and where the things I'm interested in are located. But...

That 'stairway to heaven' on the new Anderson building next door to the old Prudential gives me the shivers. It's pretty, though. Useless, but pretty. Wonder what that cost them?

All of the consulates I know about, except for one, are located in office buildings, mostly downtown or in the Galleria area. The exception is the Chinese consulate on Montrose, which is in a midrise, former apartment building. The Chinese who work there live in their own compound (I call it a chancellery but maybe that's wrong) located in Del Oro on Hepburn Street between Cambridge and Almeda. It is a large compound and surrounded by an expensive brick wall. They fly the red flag of China inside and it's visible from the street. The Falun Gong frequently protest outside the front gate like they do occasionally on Montrose. The only consulate I've been personally involved with is the Brazilian which is located in one of the office buildings along the West Loop, just north of where Post Oak passes under it. I had to get a visa in person as residents of the Houston metropolitan area are forbidden to apply by mail. The lines are frequently very long (you have to go there multiple times to drop off and pick up) and the times I was there, there were many Mexican nationals, Brazilians, Houstonians, Europeans, and impatient Dallasites who had flown in to get their business done. Brazilians get a separate line.

Aren't those wide sidewalks along the major thoroughfares in Manhattan the results of set-back laws? I'm all for eliminating those little narrow grassy strips that characterize most pedestrian right-of-ways in Houston. You have to walk on them on the rare occasion you meet someone or have to pass a stroller.

I think he was looking for a real answer, as in maybe a website with an address listing & other information. But since you obviously know they're in the phone book, maybe you could share with the rest of us where at in the 4 different 3 inch thick phone books to find all 80+ consolates. 

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You're right 27. Sorry that sounded flip. Mea Culpa.

I would say that it is a gem. Not spectacular but one of the relatively few remaining examples of late Art Deco large commercial in Houston.

I consider Art-Deco, which sort of morphed in "Mod" , the mother of all 20th century styles.

Without knowing the logistics of making the old building serve their purposes, I say they should save the old girl. I believe that it is a sign of a higher state of cultural evolution to consider the historic and aesthetic aspects of all large, commercial projects, even if a lesser profit is made. Easy for me to sit here and say that.

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Back in the 70s (I think), I remember the Prudential building's sign, which was blue neon. It had the company logo (the Rock) and took up the the top part of the tower. The grid that held the sign is still there. You could see it from all over the south side of town. I spoke with an administrator at MD Anderson who works in the building. She was quite defensive and in-my-face about the looming destruction: "MD Anderson owns it and we're tearing it down." Though she will not make the final decision, I think her statement says a lot about the culture over there. They don't care because they don't care. I hate to say it but I think that building is history.

Isnt that the LYME PROPERTIES lot?  I heard that they are going to build a research building on that land (there was an article a few weeks back).

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Yes, 1911 is the Lyme property. Supposedly, they plan on a 500K sq ft building. The lot seems small for that size building. The new Cambridge Street bridge will cross Bray's Bayou between there and the Ronald McDonald House, connecting to MacGreggor at the Confederate monument. It's next door to the 40-story Spires condo, which sits on a similarly sized lot. I think 1911 was originally planned to be the location of a Spires twin. Retail is rumored to be part of the ground floor plans, which is sorely needed. Lack of retail is the major drawback to living in the eastern and southern Med center. The new developments in the area bounded by Almeda, Dixie, Grand, and S. MacGreggor should help with the demographics for retail, along with the rehab'ed Nabisco plant and the new extension of Cambridge St. which slices off a piece of the Vetern's Hospital campus as it passes from OST to Holcombe. What I was wondering about, though, was what is happening on Holcombe? That stretch of road was not in bad shape and it is happening at the same time as the massive improvement on Almeda between Holcombe north to beyond MacGreggor. Sewer enlargements maybe?

Does anyone know where I can obtain a list of the rest of Houston's consulate offices?

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phone book.

One of the older Carrabas family members  just sold their house in Glenbrook, on the corner of Glenview & Glen Valley.  That area was heavily Italian in the 50's -70's from what I have been told.

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I read that the many Italians came into Texas through Galveston and that Dickinson was originally an early settlement for them. DebMartin confirms this. I also think that the original Houston 'Little Italy' centered around the original Antone's on Taft, near Allen Parkway. I guess this falls into what is was generally called the 4th Ward. Right?

OOH, if they tear down that old building, I will be SOO pissed...

I love that old relic.  Its a nice old building set amongst gleaming new structures.  If anything, they really should push forward with their proposal to buy the land once the Military reserve bases move from OST to Ellington (lots of land!)

The TMC is truly an awesome place.

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I think the med center has already got those government properties on OST.

By the way, I noticed yesterday that there seems to be activity at 1911 Holcombe.. There's an address sign that's new and the '20-something- year-old temporary' sales building for the Spires looks like it's being moved. There was earth-moving equipment on the site. Barricades also went up on Holcombe east of Bray's Bayou to Almeda, making that strech four lanes. Anyone know what going on other than the Lyme proposal for 1911?

Three construction trailers have recently been moved to the vacant UT land along Cambridge Street behind the Med Center Kroger, OST@Cambridge.

There are some others off N. Braeswood in the area I mentioned, inside the loop that are very similar in style.

All of the new homes in my section of the Braeswood area are being elevated quite a bit to get them above the Allison flood level.

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We're all writing about the same general area, I think. The larger houses seem to be east and west of Buffalo Spwy, north of N. Braeswood (which eventually becomes Beechnut.)

I live in the area and there are a couple of new prairie-inspired style homes going up. A couple that have been finished for a few months-a year or two are located near S. Braeswood and Greenwillow, and there are a few under construction or recently completed off N. Braeswood between Brompton and Stella Link. And there are some definite FLW influences on a couple of them.

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Are the houses on the north side of North Braeswood between Stella Link and Kirby and south of Holcombe/Bellaire? If so, this is a neighborhood that experienced very heavy flooding during Allison. Almost all of the older houses in this street and several blocks north had water in them. Many of the ruined houses have been torn down and replaced by pier-and-beam structures that appear enormous. Some of them do appear in the neo-prairie sytle which I think is appealing in this area. There is much new construction throughout this neighborhood, partly due to the flood and partly due to its close-in location.

Interesting observation.  How so?  In that it is inward-facing rather than addressing the street?

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Yes, exactly SD. The subterrainean waterfall is a perfect example of this. Those 'watercooler' vents on top are a little disconcerting but appropriate to this design as they allow a diffuse, natural light to illuminate the upper salons and make the two stark windows overlooking St. Paul's and downtown and the old museum along Main seem less abrupt. The building's stark and modern Binz Street face interacts nicely with the surrounding institutional buildings. Unfortunately, the Beck's back face does nothing for the front entrance to the old and well-furnished Warwick Hotel. I guess that's what they get for cutting that old tapestry to fit.

I found it online earlier this year but have since forgotten where. I can tell you the house is not in River Oaks proper, but is on Avalon just north of Westheimer and a few blocks west of Kirby. It has had some exterior modifications but still looks very much like the house in the movie.

The house used in the sequel, The Evening Star is a different house that is almost identical on the outside, and located somewhere near Rice University but I have never found the address for it. Supposedly at the time the sequel was made, the house used in it was owned by a relative of the people who owned the house from the original film at the time it was made.

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Yes, the house in 'Terms' was in Avalon, which is indistinguishable from River Oaks proper except the houses there average only in the $750K range for a 3BR/2, 2000 sq ft. It is just north of Westheimer but I can't remember the exact address. When the movie was made, my best friend was an agent for Martha Turner Realtors. The movie studio contacted Martha and she put them in contact with the owner of the house who was an agent there. The studio paid her 50K, moved her and her daughter to an apartment for 6 months, and redid the house to make it into a compatible set for the movie. After the shooting was finished, the studio replaced the interior and backyard. The owner gave a party the night of the Academy Awards and, as you know, Terms of Endearment won for best picture. All I remember about it was that Nathan's Hotdogs had a stand in the back yard and I talked to Red Duke and that beastly Elma Berrera a reporter on one of the local news channels.

I guess I am far off. I remembered something about one of his neighbors' houses going up in flames, and the local news said this was in the Memorial area. I do think it is outside the loop where Memorial Drive isn't a very good way to commute.

Does Bloomberg live in Gracie Mansion, or his own home?  He's a billionaire, so I guess the city's mayoral residence is little more than a double-wide to him.

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By a very strange quirk of fate, I was in Gracie Mansion once. It is excellent and certainly up to the standards of Mr. Bloomberg's position as the mayor of that hallmark of American cities. If he considers it a double-wide, which I'm sure he doesn't, all his taste would be in his mouth. I don't know whether he actually lives there but the mayor of New York is a 24/7 job and he probably does at least some of the time. President Bush II is wealthy and he only has an apartment on the second floor of the White House. Does he live there? Well, at least some of the time. (lol)

Parks Smarks. Why do Houstonians keep harping about more parks? There are a lot of parks inside the loop--Memorial and Hermann are the biggest but there are others. I live and work in close proximity to Hermann Park and am either in it or driving by every day. Most of the time it is relatively empty, even the parimeters. On the south side are always a few runners and medicals hanging out. On the west, the Rice side, not a soul. On the north, maybe a baby carriage, maybe not. On the east, aside from the golf clubers and couples doing something illicit in the parking lot near Holcombe, nothing. In the spring there are, at times, hundreds of yellow school buses that say Conroe ISD or something using the park for (what else) parking as their patrons visit the Natural History Museum. And then there is the other half of the day, night. I have on several occasions walked into the park alone after sunset. Why not, it's free, there, and a place to be alone to get a breath. But it's not advisable. My point? The parks are underused by Houstonians because a good portion of the time they are very dangerous places. This is why I have reservations about the new park downtown. Some speak of it as if creating a dead zone in the middle of the city will instantly bring nirvana to a part of downtown in serious need of a drink. Lets say a developer builds a luxury condo across the street from it. I buy because it's nice, convenient to my work and has a permanent view because of the park. Where will my children play? In the park's playground of course. But not by themselves. I'll say, "Play on the sidewalk kids, but don't go into that park without me no matter how many policemen you see." Why the sidewalk? Because there are people around who would likely know them and at least they might stand a chance against a predator. I'm not just being paranoid and I'm not necessarily against more parks for central Houston but what I really think we need is wider sidewalks. Sorry if I'm ranting.

I'm with Glen.  I like that waterfall (it's unfortunate that it is not consistently operating), and I like the whole building, especially considering that it is primarily a parking garage.  I think it was a creative and splendid way to "hide" a parking garage.

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OK, a waterfall on a parking garage is an innovative and welcome site. But, that building is meant to be the 'student center' for a part of the med center 'campus' that sorely needed some services not readily available. The 'Commons', as it is called, was a much-discussed project because of its prominent location. It was intended to be a building for fast food, light retail, banking, meetings and a high-end restaurant. Of course, parking was an issue so the businesses would not have to depend solely on pedestrian traffic, and parking was included in the plan like in the St. Luke's Professional building between Main and Fannin. The building does look like a splendid parking garage though. (I don't mean that sarcastically.)

Editor, since there is almost nothing correct in the entire quoted post, could you please just go ahead and delete it?

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Not so quick. 'They' did get rid of some low-income businesses on South Main. They weren't exactly selling sandwiches though. (lol)

jones hall is a classic piece of modern architecture.  i wonder if danes75 has been inside jones hall?  i didn't appreciate jones hall until i had been inside several times.  i was sitting upstairs at a cafe table up against a wall this past year (k.d.lang with the houston symphony).  i've been in this area several times over the years but never noticed how the limestone wall panels extend out past the windows.  it is kind of a frank lloyd wright experience.  the definition of inside and out is subtly blurred where these tall "sliver" windows are placed.  it was after seeing "stomp" one year that i began to realize the soft curved facade that provides wonderful flow for crowds leaving jones hall. the curved facade inside the square, block size portico is my favorite design feature. (i hope i'm getting my architectural terms correct.)  when i was younger, i perceived this building as simply an off white square.  it took several years for me to begin to appreciate it's nuances.  however, i'm not fond of the long....long rows of seats, the size of the seats or the red carpet.  always, always purchase box seats if you have the means.

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I like Jones Hall too. It's very elegant the way it sits on that gently sloping lot and the creamy exterior and tall, thin columns are very pleasing to me. I'm not sure what a bomb shelter looks like on the outside. I agree about the long rows of seats. About ten years ago I attended Diana Ross's last Houston concert. She went unwisely) into the audience and down a long row of seats. She became disoriented and panic ensued because she couldn't get out. She definitely lost it.

I agree too with Danes75 about the Meyerson. It's an excellent piece of architecture and easily gets my vote for best place to hear a symphony orchestra in our fair estado.

I saw a new construction sign today, with a  rendering fo one of the towers. The thing is, that the sign is on the block just south of Julia's Bistro (Main @ W. Alabama). What gives??

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I think there was another medical office building scheduled to be built around McGowan

As far as public buildings go the Moneo addition to the MFAH (the Beck building) is a great example of Islamic architecture, especially its interior and the top floor. The subterrainean patio with its series of cascading pools adjacent to Cafe Express does not work for some reason. It always appears dirty, windswept and uninviting.

The new Metro building on the Pierce elevated is conservative but quite nice in its overall impact. I like it.

The Texas Heart Institute, hidden from Holcombe Street behind a huge and obtrusive parking garage, is an excellent example of what a thoughtful architect can do. Imo it's among the best buildings built in Houston in the last several years.

The uncompleted Harris County court building squats on the downtown landscape like a rear-ended Cadillac waiting to be towed. The people of Harris County need an expanded county court complex. That is undeniable but God save us from being judged by the people responsible for this unfortunate squandering of taxpayer resources.