Stephen

It looks like invisible_texan is perhaps permanently AFK on this board and also on flickr; I was referred to his photoset on webshots.com (presumably the same photos that were on flickr), though, by Nick Saum, a friend of mine and the flickr user who posted the 2007 photo. Here's the link: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/561982645hxhcVr

I was there this evening and took some photos

The promised photos are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjalex/sets/72157620576904653/

Invisible Texan may have taken those pictures just in time -- when I was last down there in November, I remember driving past and NOT seeing the building there anymore. It looked like the lot had been cleared. Can anyone confirm this?

It's still there as of today. I was there this evening and took some photos which I will endeavor to post here tomorrow. The place is a wreck; it's been subject to quite a lot of vandalism and decay (I don't think there are any windows left, the front porch is collapsed, and the shell of a burned-out bus sits in the front drive) and the grounds are overgrown. The building plays host to a wide variety of wildlife.

The place may not be there much longer, however. I came across this RE listing tonight as well: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-...7546_1110338029

Hey what do you mean by 'spalding?', just curious.

This is a cool shot of the towers. I live in the South Tower, 2nd floor from 2000 ~ 2001. Even though the buildings are not my favorite flavor of architecture, I enjoyed living there more than I could possibly describe. It was my first year out on my own, @ 18 yrs old, lots of fun ppl lived around me. While the buildings are sort of a dump & the rooms are tiny, I rather enjoyed living there.

the word should be "spalling"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spall

there's a section in that article about mechanical weathering; that's the type of spalling in play here.

More flattery: I like the way you capture the 'F' pattern on the wall. Great job.

thanks.

dang this flattery. I didn't know I was being featured here!

cool I got POTD and I didn't even know it! Thanks!

^i'll echo danax's sentiments...! so often we see neat houses like yours in the demo permit stack

thanks for finding the forum and keep us updated!

any updates?

^ yeah, it was pretty neat looking, imo (and that image is available at the Texas Room)

that's strange - small, and off center, too:

This is a guess, but it would make sense for there to have been some previous other sign above that, maybe with a brand name or something that got painted over or otherwise removed.

They did put this one back up for sale again.

From the HAR page: "House sold in as-is condition. Oversized 13,000+ lot on cul-de-sac. priced at lot value. House is not considered livable and is requested not to be shown. The lot may be walked only if accompanied by an agent."

The price is up about $100K from when this thread started; the McMansions on the street are now selling for nearly $900K. Pretty disgusting. I wonder how people will treat those ostentatious behemoths in another 30 years...

HCAD lists the property as "economic misimprovement" which I gather means that it no longer fits with the neighborhood... the implication to me is that the neighbors think it devalues their properties. The improvement value in the 2005 appraisal was in the upper 70s and for 2006 it was down to 1000 (the total property value rose to match it). Details here.

The black & white really gives the Alley a different look.

That is true, however the time of day in which the photos are taken makes a big difference too. I took this set in the late afternoon in September and there wasn't any direct light on the building. I have another set, yet to be scanned, that, as I recall, had some harder shadows in it; I will try to get that scanned and posted soon for contrast's sake.

It was answered in a different topic. 57Tbird posted this photo that shows Arrowhead off of OST.

So much for the racetrack. However, one might take perverse pleasure in that the area seems still to be devoted to the automobile:

A Google Maps satellite image of it

Now my question is what was "Arrowhead Park"? Was this an amusement park? I couldn't find it on a map of Houston from the mid-1950s.

All I can find about Arrowhead's location is a post on another forum, (click here), that refers to it as Arrowhead Speedway. Evidently it was a racetrack for both horses and cars. It would ostensibly be located, by the description given, somewhere between Reliant Park and Brays Bayou.

The Alley's always been one of my least-favorite Houston buildings. Thanks for presenting it in a light that improves the way it looks.

Hey, my pleasure. It's a matter of perspective, something I like to explore... Let me know if there are any other buildings I can deuglify for ya

Doesn't Galveston have a new highrise condo going up on the east end? And isn't development booming on the west end? And aren't a number of highrises and other condo-type properties being rehabbed along the seawall? To me this spells a new increased demand for services, presuming those residences are filled... What nags me about Galveston is the obvious but usually unacknowledged poverty that pervades much of the island. I don't know what employment statistics are for the island, but presuming that they are low, many of those jobs must be pretty low-paying. I think Galveston needs to do more to build a homegrown workforce for the service economy it's going to need before much longer. Otherwise, it'll have to import labor from the mainland at a premium, and at the expense of its denizens which it could otherwise employ.

Galveston is teaming with life right now with surf shops galore, great restaurants, residential highrises, the Truman show like Beachtown Galveston, the fantastic Moody Gardens complex, The Strand, The Seawall, Bishops Palace and very cool nightlife.

So I think if Galveston is considered a legitimate subburb of Houston there no contest. Sugarland or the Wooodlands are an afterthought in comparison. To a degree I like spending time in Galveston more than in Houston. Maybe I'm overblowing it but I really love the Island.

I love Galveston too, but you never mentioned the downsides. Consider the entire area between Broadway and Harborside west of about 30th street or so, and get a picture of what the rest of Galveston is like.

My memory is that during the Cuban Missle Crisis, the air raid sirens went off every day at noon instead of just on Friday. It always started my pulse to racing to hear that siren and I always had to check to see what time it was to make sure it wasn't the real thing. I would have been 7 at the time.

That was before my time, but during the years that I was a cable TV installer in and around Texas City I always got a similar feeling; I had to make sure it was noon on Wednesday, or else it was shelter-in-place time. Trouble was as a cable guy I had no place in which to shelter per se, so it always made me particularly nervous. I was only a couple miles away from the site during the explosion before last.

Did they mean to say will not?

Last time I recieved a dollar coin was at the post office getting stamps. I guess since nobody uses them, government places get stuck with them.

For those of you who travel to Europe often, what do you think about carrying around more coins than paper money? I guess it wasn't too bad for me while I was there. It'll never catch on here.

They meant what they wrote; taking the mint mark, date of issuance, and "e pluribus unum" from the face of the coin and putting it on the edge effectively unclutters the face and allows foxus on the subject, the president figure.

I think dollar coins are great! Or more to the point, would be, if more vending machines accepted them. Vending machines are the ideal use for these, in my opinion. Places like the post office and Metro have dollar coins because their vending machines accept the coins. It'll catch on here if the vending machines are generally reconfigured I think, especially in light of inflation: money is only worth half what it was 25 years ago, and that trend is not something that will change direction. As the nominal values of things go up, higher denomination coins will make more and more sense.

OK, HAIF, the family and I are looking to move this year. I need your feedback on the following Pearland / Missouri City areas.

...

Pearland is growing at breakneck speed. Right now, Silverlake and SCR are nice because they have, as far as I know, all that stuff you say you want; however, try to project forward a few years and I think you're looking at a traffic nightmare at least. 288 is good for the moment but I think in 5 yrs it'll be terrible. Missouri city... personally I don't care for it. It's got a pretentious feel to it... but if you don't mind that it might do OK for you. It's not growing quite as fast as Pearland (for the moment) and with the Fort Bend County toll road, it should be pretty quick to get into Houston. For that area, I'd say Olympia and Sienna are OK But Sienna adds several miles to your travel and there's only 1 way in and out... if it grows much that could be a problem for you.

Stephen, who used to install CATV in those areas

Am I correct in thinking that Pasadena also uses warning sirens for refinery emergencies as a signal to leave the area?

Not sure what the municipal courthouse is. The old criminal one is being renovated into the juvenile justice center. The new criminal one aka criminal justice center opened early 2000's and the new civil one is either open or near opening. That's why i was questioning the need to build yet another new one.

The Municipal Court is city government, the county courts are county government... separate institutions. The Municipal court is at 1400 Lubbock, just west of I45 and north of Memorial off Houston Ave. It's not a very big building... not nearly as big as it needs to be.

How do you think about the Boston City Hall. Another, monument to concrete that has often been named the ugliest building in the world.

Wow, now that's what I call brutalist. I think it has a certain appeal, actually; though an appeal more to my darker side perhaps. It has a sort of dystopian feel somehow. I like it, but as a government building it's too imposing: it feels as though it would swallow you if you walked in. The effect is amplified, by contrast, by the open plaza surrounding the building. One would expect to see such a thing in a movie like Brazil.

It seems that every city has it's example of Concrete Chique. They all have a Stalinist appeal. Unfortunately Alley theater is showing it's age.

The Coliseum in Rome is showing its age but I don't know about Stalinist appeal... I suppose you could say it has concrete chic though

When I was working over on 21st street last year I used to cruise around at lunch to gawk at the cool homes in the area. I ran across several townhomes that looked straight out of a postard of Queen Anne/Edwardian homes in San Francisco. No kidding. I know there were several on Oxford street I think? had that neat mansard roof style. Resembled the Munsters house (major cool). I cannot recall where the others were but they were lined up quite nicely with steep descending staircases. Someone had to be quite clever to draw up the plans. I wanted to just go knock on the door and ask but I thought that was a bit much.

If anyone can provide info/advice it would be greatly appreciated. I would like to check out any website that showcases homes that are sharp in detail as far as new Victorian/Gothic style homes are concerned.

I don't know the answer to your question but you may be able to look it up. Go here: http://www.hcad.org/records/real.asp?search=addr and punch in the address, click search, and then on the results page you'll find an ownership history. It may include the builder since there would have been prior records for the property.

I've learned to love the HCAD website.

thanks for posting those - i like how something so massively concrete can look organic

I find that shooting in b/w lends itself to dynamic portrayal of buildings like this. It's all about the light; it sort of helps one look past the starkness of the concrete itself.