torvald

i had started this as it's own thread but i guess it belongs here:

"i have been wanting to photograph the central square (after driving by and seeing that huge clock a few blocks over) and by the time i get around to it there are fresh huge plywood boards around the first floor and broken glass in the street. are the boards really that recent? this was on friday around 4pm. there was actually one more newly broken window without plywood over it and glass in the street. i was only able to photograph the escalator and a wooden sales desk through the window. anyone know what happened?

i have many, many questions about a few of the older houston buildings but i figure it is best to search this site for previous posts and ask whatever has not been covered yet. thanks"

if anyone has photos of the inside -- could you share?

i also wanted to add that on the rail yesterday i noticed that this building got heavily tagged on one of the top floors. pretty large and intricate too. i am so irritated as this means there is more to follow. as i really like this building i worry that it would hasten it's being torn down.

My understanding is that certain property have certain restrictions, i.e. building height, set-back lines, type of use etc. These signs are notices to the public, that the owner want's to deviate from these requirements. The public then is given the chance to voice their approval or disapproval. . . at city hall? (on the date posted on the sign).

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in order to disapprove, must there be a legal reason other than "i would like to preserve the remaining structure" (that is not historically protected) or "i would like to preserve the current character of the neighborhood?" siting some nearby streets here where great little one-family houses are overshadowed by poorly made structures that are dated and empty. i am not 100% against townhomes, just the poorly made, designed & executed ones.

i am against the ones that replace existing homes to the point where totally overpopulate the street. i am sure this is covered somewhere. any links would be appreciated.

Wow,  I totally remember Hanna Barbara Land.  I have no clue where it was since I was just a kid, but I remember all the commercials.   

Does anyone remember the old restaruant at 6400 Richmond that used to be train cars.

Anyone else remember those restuarants.

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for the longest time i would remember this really cool ice cream place where the servers would have white hats with a stripe around it, sing happy birthday and bring a banana split with sparklers stuck in the ends. i remembered it seeming overwhelming & fancy. it may have been the galleria? i was super, super young and when i mentioned it my grandmother she was pretty surprised that i remembered. ferrels, i think.

i did a google search and after a while found this site, lots of different sorts of ferrell's out there:

http://www.farrellsusa.com/pics/Farcandyarea8.02.jpg.jpg

anyone have a houston link or info on how long it was there, when it closed, etc?

On a side note, I was driving by downtown at night last weekend & noticed the ExXon building, which several months ago during the Astros play offs had changed their white "christmas" lights to blue, are now white again.  So much for being different...

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since metro matt has revived this thread, i was wondering about the status of the lighting petition.

i also remember for a short time a tall building downtown that accented its entire outline with green neon lighting, which in contrast to the other buildings was insane and which subsequently bleed off and reflected off the surrounding buildings at night, making that area a bit surreal & annoying.

I noticed that on the site of where the Collective is building their mixed-use bldg, that there is a big sign that says "Notice for Variance Request" or comparable. I've noticed that these signs go up before any project takes root - can someone explain exactly what this means?

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all i know is that in my neighborhood (montrose), if that sign goes up, a month later a little old house with character and a yard is replaced by a quickly & poorly made townhome with no room to spare and nowhere to park.

This is the first I've seen of this and, 20's girl, I agree with your analysis. However, I like it. I think it's unique, yes, garrish and pompous, and my tastes are usually more minimalist, but this reminds me of some of the buildings from one of my favorite styles, so-called Art Deco.

I think we've all noticed the similarities between city skylines. Nothing but long, tall Sallys, flat rectangles of varying heights. Time for a change...

A new style could be emerging, and Houston could be on the cutting edge.

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i don't think they are hiding anything, looks quite blatant to me. looks like: a flat-out pandering to the grandiose east & west eggers alike, the future set of a batman action scene or action flick where on of those decorative spheres ends up rolling through town via fancy computer effects.

i always love those computer renderings when a company is selling a site idea, where each building is totally surrounded by nothing but trees, very sci-fi!

It's not awful.  It's not great.  It seems to rely too heavily on the wire services instead of in-house reporting.  And when you do see stuff from Chronicle reporters they tend to be from the same ones over and over.  They should hire more, or make some of the slackers a little more productive.

Also, one thing that separates the big newspapers from the second-tier like the Chronicle is that the other papers do big, important "think-pieces" and major investigations that have national impact.  The Chronicle spends too much time staring at its own bellybutton.  It seems to have no idea there is anything in the world beyond Southeast Texas and Mexico City.

In short, it feels like a small-town paper because it acts like a small town paper.

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i totally agree with this: AP, AP, AP. when there are things going on in "world news" it may not be mentioned but there sure as all, will be a huge color photo of a little girl drinking out of a water fountain at a park somewhere. personally, my dad threw a route with the post, back in the day, so i am a bit nostalgic. also with the acquisition fall out on some of the post's employees (local writers, drivers, photogs, etc.) i am sure that would make some people naturally biased, even if that is a low percentage.

See, I'm involved in this little informal contest to squat the tallest building possible. I'm still the winner with the Savoy at 17 stories, but I need to beat my own record.

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does anyone know whatever happened to this guy?

does he still post here? maybe under a new handle?

thanks.

Some discussion on Central Bank here. 

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i actually was wondering if the damage done to the lower windows was as recent as it seemed. it would have been easy to shoot an interior photo through the unpaneled broken window except that the huge curtain would have been impossible to move through the hole and i did not want to be blamed for breaking the window.

also, thank you for the link. i am happy this site has so much 1st hand information.

so this is my first post and i am really appreciative of the amount of information here.

i have been wanting to photograph the central square (after driving by and seeing that huge clock a few blocks over) and by the time i get around to it there are fresh huge plywood boards around the first floor and broken glass in the street. are the boards really that recent? this was on friday around 4pm. there was actually one more newly broken window without plywood over it and glass in the street. i was only able to photograph the escalator and a wooden sales desk through the window. anyone know what happened?

i have many, many questions about a few of the older houston buildings but i figure it is best to search this site for previous posts and ask whatever has not been covered yet.

thanks