Naviguessor Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Watering down? No. Vodkaing up. Yes. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 While the Leland reskin turned out well, it was also necessary - the original curtain wall leaked and IIRC only had single pane glass, right beside a freeway. If it weren't a "had to," I'd have preferred it stay in all its early 80s earth toned glory - sooner or later, it will become fashionably retro, just like MCM has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Purify Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I worked in this building almost a decade ago and back then the interiors were badly outdated and ugly. There is nothing beautiful about the exterior, either. It's just unique and is one of the clearest examples of mid-century modern architecture this city still has. A 1986 Nissan Pulsar might have sentimental value as your first car in high school, but that doesn't make it a 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom. If the building vanished this afternoon, I wouldn't even read the news to find out why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonIsHome Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I think it will look better in the same way Mickey Leeland looks better nearby. That side of downtown is a wall of plain buildings (esp from Galleria pics) and glass will probably look better IMO, I actually hope some other Leeland sized buildings (The Allen Buildings) and the empty Days Inn nearby do facade renovations too. Houston can look better both by building new and renovating old like redo on the building with the table top with round hole in the top.The ML building was not unique tho. It went from hedious to ordinary, which is a net plus. The plans for 800 bell takes it from landmark to ordinary. That's a net minus. They can spruce up the exterior without completely covering it up. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonIsHome Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I worked in this building almost a decade ago and back then the interiors were badly outdated and ugly. There is nothing beautiful about the exterior, either. It's just unique and is one of the clearest examples of mid-century modern architecture this city still has. A 1986 Nissan Pulsar might have sentimental value as your first car in high school, but that doesn't make it a 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom. If the building vanished this afternoon, I wouldn't even read the news to find out why.This building Was The rolls route of the day. People visited it just to see it and take souvenirs of the building. Again an update can be made without being drastic. They can coat the exterior of the building in glass without covering the fins. Heck they can paint the building pink, but the standout feature of the building are the fins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Are people seriously comparing this iconic/historic MCM to the Mickey Leeland building? Wow, I get that we all have opinions on design, but it's clear this is the best/one of the only examples of a MCM skyscraper that this city has, and some of you want to clad it in glass to blend in with every other tower built in the last 30 years...? Ugh. Save our history!!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Are people seriously comparing this iconic/historic MCM to the Mickey Leeland building? Wow, I get that we all have opinions on design, but it's clear this is the best/one of the only examples of a MCM skyscraper that this city has, and some of you want to clad it in glass to blend in with every other tower built in the last 30 years...? Ugh. Save our history!!!^ preach 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Purify Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 This building Was The rolls route of the day. People visited it just to see it and take souvenirs of the building. Again an update can be made without being drastic. They can coat the exterior of the building in glass without covering the fins. Heck they can paint the building pink, but the standout feature of the building are the fins My point exactly. There is no such thing as "the Rolls-Royce of its day." A 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III has no day. It is timeless. This building is a relic and nothing more. I can appreciate that people visited it in 1965, but this is not the Chrysler Building. No one is visiting it now 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 (edited) My point exactly. There is no such thing as "the Rolls-Royce of its day." A 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III has no day. It is timeless. This building is a relic and nothing more. I can appreciate that people visited it in 1965, but this is not the Chrysler Building. No one is visiting it nowIt may not be showing up in any mainstream architecture books but it's a shame to get rid of something half a century old. We don't need another 1000 Main, we need greater diversity and different examples of period architecture that will soon be lost forever. Edited December 25, 2015 by Montrose1100 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonIsHome Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 My point exactly. There is no such thing as "the Rolls-Royce of its day." A 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III has no day. It is timeless. This building is a relic and nothing more. I can appreciate that people visited it in 1965, but this is not the Chrysler Building. No one is visiting it now no one is visiting any buildings nowadays. Point still stands tho.it is different and many long time Houstonians have find memories of it. Who needs another glass box? Why not make it resemble the chevron buildings making use of the fins? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 no one is visiting any buildings nowadays. Not so. The Chase sky lobby gets visitors daily. I don't know about resurrecting the machine that made a plastic model before your very eyes, but 800 Bell's observation deck still has a great panorama (unlike, say, Spindletop at the Hyatt). MCM is going through a resurgence right now. Turning 800 Bell into another anonymous box is a lot like gluing all that white marble onto what is now the JW Marriott. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 (edited) Great analogy with the downtown JW Marriott facade. Do we really want to clad this tower in a new glass facade, just to rip it all off in 50 years to restore the original finned design? Edited December 27, 2015 by cloud713 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarface Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I can appreciate the sediment of many on here to this building. But who are we kidding here? Even the current "radiator" design that is over 50 years old is nothing all that extravagant. It's still a box nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Modernist buildings are all about detail. It doesn't make sense to call them all "boxes," just because they are rectangular shaped. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Turning 800 Bell into another anonymous box is a lot like gluing all that white marble onto what is now the JW Marriott. Great analogy with the downtown JW Marriott facade. Do we really want to clad this tower in a new glass facade, just to rip it all off in 50 years to restore the original finned design? If they go back with something that gives the optical illusion of fins without actually installing fins, we'd have a direct analog. It seems a risk of anything that is done in a particular style. At some point, there is a chance that people are going to look at it and think that it is obsolete, ugly, faddish, and/or could be improved upon through significant visual modification only to have the passage of time make the once unfavored appearance valuable to some. Just because it stands out as unique, is it worthy of keeping? There's bound to be some diversity of opinion around here, I'd imagine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 (edited) AFIK, MCM horizontal fins were pretty much a Houston thing. They helped with the A/C load by giving a bit of shade in the days before reliable insulating glass. Other examples that leap to mind are the Wortham Tower in American General Center, Kinder/Morgan née Tenneco, One City Centre, née First City National Bank, the Melrose Building (soon to be Le Meridien), plus Central Square before the remodeling. Having once had a west facing office in Wortham, as well as various south and west facing offices in other buildings without insulating glass, I can vouch for their efficacy. Edited December 28, 2015 by mollusk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 AFIK, MCM horizontal fins were pretty much a Houston thing. They helped with the A/C load by giving a bit of shade in the days before reliable insulating glass. Other examples that leap to mind are the Wortham Tower in American General Center, Kinder/Morgan née Tenneco, One City Centre, née First City National Bank, the Melrose Building (soon to be Le Meridien), plus Central Square before the remodeling. Having once had a west facing office in Wortham, as well as various south and west facing offices in other buildings without insulating glass, I can vouch for their efficacy. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power building looks like a mini-Exxon. I couldn't tell you any others though... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 it's not the fins that make it ugly, it's the stone pebble panels and the crown that make it an eyesore. keep the fins, put all glass behind them, blend in the crown, and it will be a beauty. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 (edited) The fins are the best part.. I wouldn't mind a residential developer converting the tower to condos and making the fins balconies.. Edited December 29, 2015 by cloud713 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt16 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 The fins are the best part.. I wouldn't mind a residential developer converting the tower to condos and making the fins balconies..Those fins aren't structural. There's no way they could become balconies 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 (edited) Those fins aren't structural. There's no way they could become balconies Ah, really? I wasn't sure about what the fins could support. Not that it really matters at this point given Shoresteins plans to deface the tower and maintain its use as an office tower.. Hopefully we aren't looking at a vacant 1+ million sq ft skyscraper in downtown for very long... Edited December 29, 2015 by cloud713 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astros148 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Hopefully its not a vacant building 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power building looks like a mini-Exxon. I couldn't tell you any others though...Sierra Towers (also in LA), does that curvy one in São Paulo count? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonIsHome Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 it's not the fins that make it ugly, it's the stone pebble panels and the crown that make it an eyesore.keep the fins, put all glass behind them, blend in the crown, and it will be a beauty.That's What I have been saying. Clad the building, leave the fins 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post mlyoung83 Posted December 31, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted December 31, 2015 (edited) Looking west at dusk Edited December 31, 2015 by mlyoung83 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonIsHome Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 So classic. Love it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
democide Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 It looks real nice, in the dark and with the lights turned off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAC Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I won't lie - I love this building's shape and style. If it had floor to ceiling glass and the shades, I think it would be exceptional. The skyscraper that the main characters in the movie Inception lived in...it was very similar to this on the outside and was very cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Start date no longer available: http://downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2016-01-13/160114_Development_Map__Renders_11X17.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swtsig Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 i would expect next to no movement on this in the near term... things are starting to get reeeaaal ugly. anyone blowing sunshine up your keester is clueless. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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