Ross

From the 1922 city directory. Address was 700 Main. 705 Main is across the street. I think it must have been on the first floor of the Great Jones Building, which still exists.

15 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

In 1967, this parcel of vacant land was 38-acres in size and owned by Mrs. Brown.

Would that be George Rufus Brown (George R. Brown)'s wife Alice Pratt?  I don't know who else, a famous Houstonian, would own 40 acres in a developing area. Must have been rich!

Found here:

The Med Center 1967, from the Jesse Jones Collection
Posted on April 13, 2016 by Melissa Kean

https://ricehistorycorner.com/2016/04/13/the-med-center-1967-from-the-jesse-jones-collection/

Not related to George R Brown. Property was sold to TMC by Dorothy Brown, a widow living in New Orleans. She bought the land from R E "Bob" Smith, who apparently owned most of that part of Houston.

Dorothy Brown was teh widow of Joe Brown. They were wealthy folks in New Orleans, oil and such, owned race horses, etc. Their foundation still gives to various causes. Find a grave for Dorothy Brown https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122648389/dorothy-brown Their foundation https://www.thebrownfoundation.org/who-we-are.html

Brown to TMC.pdf

16 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

I have a question.

Has METRO ever considered seat belts for their METRORail? I find it odd, like school busses, they do not have seat belts.

A few weeks ago, the train had to come to a quick halt because their was someone on the tracks.  The people all moved forward due to the motion of the train.  There are metal bars in front of the passenger, height wise, aligns with your forehead. I could see the train coming to a complete stop and somebody banging their forehead against the metal.  Ouch!

Or, in a freak accident to where the train derails, it would be good to be buckled in so you remain in your spot.

Some people will not wear their seat beats, and that is okay. Personal choice.  However, it would probably be safer to wear the seat belt.

I've ridden public transport all over the world. None of them have seat belts. Few passengers would wear them and they would be another maintenance item.

On 11/5/2023 at 2:23 PM, 004n063 said:

Say it with me: Land. Value. Tax.

No. Worst idea ever. Totally ridiculous, and ignores reality.

1 hour ago, mkultra25 said:

That, and the ever-popular "Drive 70 and freeze a Yankee."

Along with "Drive 75 and freeze 'em alive"

6 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

Alumni Weekend (homecoming + reunion) was this weekend. I'd bet more than a few former residents of Old Sid experienced cognitive dissonance as they gazed upon that vacant slab.

I was marginally taken aback driving up South Main a couple of weeks ago and saw the demolition underway.

10 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

Just read that the Wildcat Golf Club is a total of 80-acres in size.  From what I gather, WGC is actually a popular course in central Houston.

The hundreds of acres surrounding the golf course is what I'm actually interested in. Why can't a corporation come in, with hundreds of millions, and buy the land for a campus? Why is the old pierce junction oil field so tainted? Is it because the (now closed) Holmes Road Dump never really went away? The area, 30 years later, is still a trash dump.

Hate to speak ill of famed and valuable land, but it's true. 

Relevant.  The illegal dumping is even hitting Texas Medical Center garages! I noticed this no dumping sign today.

 

The area just to the East of WGC is being used for disposal wells and such, and will likely remain there for some time. The area to teh West might be good for a corporate campus, but isn't that already planned for the Bioport? 

The golf course was built on top of a closed landfill, which may have some effect on future use of the area.

4 hours ago, HoustonIsHome said:

So? You said the Building is useless without that particular garage. The fact that the same owner may own the building and the garage and not own the surrounding lots still doesn't change the fact that there's empty lots all around it.

 

Sure it would be simpler to just keep the garage they already own, but the building isn't useless without it as they could always purchase one or three lots and build more garages. It wouldn't be the end of the world without that particular garage. 

And for a residential building on the far southern end of downtown, tunnel access isn't really a game changer. 

It's tunnel access to the garage, not the rest of the tunnel system. Being able to get to the garage without crossing the street is a good thing.

And you admit that parking is a necessity for a residential building that size, but you don't like the existing garage. You are also assuming the other lots are for sale.

13 hours ago, ChannelTwoNews said:

Ribbon cutting for improvements at Love Park yesterday

https://communityimpact.com/houston/heights-river-oaks-montrose/arts-entertainment/2023/10/24/houston-cuts-ribbon-on-new-playground-improvements-at-love-park/

 

"Improvements at Love Park included:

• new playground equipment for ages 5-12
• a new exercise station
• consolidating the picnic area to increase open green space
• regrading and smoothing the surface of the large multiuse field
• resurfacing and replacing the walking trail
• added five new LED lights throughout the park
• improving drainage with a new detention area and improved drainage swales
• installing new benches, picnic tables and trash cans
• pruning trees
• repairing building floodlights
• refreshing park signage and painting of buildings and pool area"

Where is the robocop to arrest and punish the morons who let their dogs run loose there?

2 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

Pretty sure Shorenstein sold the building (and presumably the garage).

I stand corrected, and should have known that since I made a post about it in this thread in January. I'll write that off to getting older.

3 hours ago, HoustonIsHome said:

Isn't it surrounded by 300 surface lots? I don't think it would be useless without THAT garage. Multiple others can easily be built around I.

That garage is built and is owned by Shorenstein, so it comes with 800 Bell. The other surface lots are owned by people who may not be interested in selling. And, the garage is tunnel connected to the building.

8 hours ago, rechlin said:

A request for a "protected landmark designation" on a parking garage.  Just when you thought you'd seen it all.

Without that garage, 800 Bell is useless. It doesn't have enough space for everyone in the building, but it is needed.

7 hours ago, hindesky said:

Hopefully they stay at the Hess Tower.

"Chevron agreed to buy Hess for $53 billion, a deal aimed at boosting production growth as the U.S. oil industry bets on an enduring future for fossil fuels."

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/chevron-hess-acquisition-guyana-oil-18441906.php

I wouldn't bet anything important on that. These mergers tend to reduce the back office headcount at the acquired company by 90 percent. I don't know if Hess has offshored a lot of jobs, but Chevron certainly has, and will replace US Hess folks with people in other countries that cost 25% of what Americans cost.

2 hours ago, Amlaham said:

Hmm I wonder why Western media is sooo pro Israel 🤔 maybe this factually proven “conspiracy theory” might answer that? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's your point? That you can copy someone's poorly done memes that can't be read or verified? 

2 hours ago, __nevii said:

Damn. I kind of wished that this thing got nuked — start over without the parking garage.

Where would residents park their cars if there is no garage? Or do you think the owners should risk reducing their potential market by 95%?

That's West Webster. Here's a link to the actual building, which is in Midtown https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7465532,-95.369653,3a,75y,216.3h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sL5AmUYsGhfFmuU5b7VYJNg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DL5AmUYsGhfFmuU5b7VYJNg%26cb_client%3Dsearch.gws-prod.gps%26w%3D86%26h%3D86%26yaw%3D216.2956%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

On 10/11/2023 at 12:07 PM, BeerNut said:

I'm sure I could string a few R buzz words together as to why he's against trains.

Socialism! Communism!

18 hours ago, hindesky said:

Minnesota's Kepler learned the agony of watching a season ending called third strike go over the plate without him swinging.

The address was 711 Fannin. From the 1923 directory:

Haverty probably disappeared when the new part of the Texaco building was built. At least that's my guess.

9 hours ago, Montrose1100 said:

A Trademark for Triangle Refineries shows 2600 Nottingham, which would be the Bank of Texas building (5500 Kirby). Rice U has some architectural drawings of it in their archives, but no digital copy. I'm curious what the office building looked like.

Bankruptcy court file in Minnesota. 

Also found a superfund site outside of Atlanta, which is now a tank farm owned by Citgo.

That was the location of the Triangle Refineries building, which was owned by Triangle Realty.

Transfers to Triangle from the County Clerk's site

Transfers from Triangle:

That location is in West U, not Houston.

On 4/7/2023 at 9:38 AM, Highrise Tower said:

I think I just found Joseph Finger's office! 

December 17, 1922.

Experience architect-draftsman wanted at once.  Joseph Finger, 317 Woolworth.

 

In 1923, Finger's office is shown as 711 Keystone Building

Keystone Building is 1116-20 Texas Avenue

The building still exists and is lofts. It was designed by Finger, so not surprising his office was there in 1923. Here's a site with some information on the building https://www.downtownhouston.org/guidedetail/residential/keystone-lofts/

There was no Goggan Street. Finn's address in the 1923 City Directory is given as 505 Bankers Mortgage Building

And the entry for the Goggan Building has "See Bankers Mortgage Building

That building is still there as the Judson W Robinson Community Center. Northeast corner of Hermann Park.

14 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

Interesting! There was actually Humble gas stations back in the day. 

Found this business advertisement in the newspaper The Bellaire Texan dated December 5, 1947.

Complete Auto Service
Wash and Lubrication
Prompt Road Service
Atlas
Tires and Tubes

Humble Service Station No. 1050
Lewis L. Cook, Agent
6719 South Main / L. 1687

Prior to the creation of the name "Exxon" in the early 1970's, Standard Oil of New Jersey stations in Texas and other states used the "Humble" name. Jersey Standard was not able to use Esso in most of the US due to trademark issues with other former Standard Trust companies like Amoco, Chevron, etc. In addition to Humble, there were also stations branded as Enco, Carter, and a few other names, generally using the blue oval with red letters.

Humble Oil was founded by Harry Wiess, Walter Fondren, Ross Sterling, and others who sold half of the stock to Jersey Standard to get funding. By 1958, Jersey Standard had bought all of the stock of Humble and it was a wholly owned subsidiary. It operated as Humble in Texas due to state law restricting what Jersey Standard could do.

My grandfather worked for Humble Oil for 33 years. He had a company car with a large Humble logo on the side.

11 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

A little confused.  Well, maybe it makes sense? The Houston Monarchs had both a field, and a stadium.

When Houston Monarchs first started, they were playing in a field called East End Park. After growing as a team with the combined fans and spectators they built themselves a stadium.

Photograph of the Mexican Inn baseball team.

Photograph of the Mexican Inn Baseball Team, Houston Texas. Spectators are seen sitting on the back in the stadium. A pair of bats and catcher's shin guards and his chest pad are seen on the grass in front of the players. Pictured, back row, from left to right: Felix Tjerina ; Pilo Hagnes ; Cuote - Felix Castro ; unidentified ; Walter Avaloz ; Johnny Cortez ; Mike Zepeda ; Lupe Garcia ; Jesse Aldaco ; Roy Garcia ; Mr. Najo ; Pasquilito Garcia ; Freddy Bolderas ; Jorge Cordova ; Jasper Castillo ; Ismael Cormozo.

- From all over town - be he pitched "the best" at Monarch Stadium on Kline Street."

Mexican Inn Base Ball Team
Houston, Tex, Apr. 1934

The Mexican Inn restaurant was at 1209 Main street, operated by Felix Tijerina who later opened Felix on Westheimer

I am not seeing a Kline Street in the City Directory for 1934, so I don't know where it might have been.