Tejo Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 (edited) We can only hope there are plans to build a federal courts building in the Courts District in the north end of downtown- would make sense to me.I think that particular block would be great for the city to build a "City Museum"- a place to showcase Houston's history and it's cultural heritage. It would also be a great place to relocate Houston's vistors center.The overall area- City Hall, the main library, Sam Houston Park, Hermann Square, Tranquillity Park plus a city musuem, would be a great place for citizens and vistors to gain insight into the city's past and present. Edited January 25, 2006 by Tejo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I'd prefer our visitor center not be located by all the dirty scuzballs going to court.Check out Congress St. in the morning. It's a mixed bag of freaks. You can pick the guilty ones a mile away by their grecian formula hair-do and their $3 suits.Not the face I'd like our visitors to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I'd prefer our visitor center not be located by all the dirty scuzballs going to court.Check out Congress St. in the morning. It's a mixed bag of freaks. You can pick the guilty ones a mile away by their grecian formula hair-do and their $3 suits.Not the face I'd like our visitors to see.Congress is where the Divorce courts are, and yeah, they do look freaky...worse than the thugs in the criminal courts on Franklin!The long-term plan for the Federal Courts is to build a new building near the Federal Detention Center on Texas and Caroline. There is a parking lot at Capital and Caroline, catty-corner to the jail that would be used. Customs House is across Caroline from the lot as well, so you'd have a little mini-federal campus there.Who knows when it would ever happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gto250us Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 it looks like a jail ... God help the people that have to work there.I think that is is SO ironic that the damn place looks like something out of the mid 60's Soviet Union. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houstonian in Iraq Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I never really liked this building either pretty much for all the reasons stated above. It would be nice if they relocate this courthouse to where all those other courthouses are. Demolish this one and add some sort of theater therefore linking the Hobby Center with the rest of the theater district. But what to put in it's place...... some one mentioned in another thread that Downtown needs more mainstream Movie theaters .....so how about a multi story AMC 100 theater. With reclining, speaker embedded seats. Where major world premiers could be held, to include independent and foreign films. Of course have some screenings that are 21 and over with booze and food.I really don't care as long as something else is built there....Ok I'm rambling now....... going to bed now ....it's late...night night people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tejo Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I'd prefer our visitor center not be located by all the dirty scuzballs going to court.Check out Congress St. in the morning. It's a mixed bag of freaks. You can pick the guilty ones a mile away by their grecian formula hair-do and their $3 suits. Not the face I'd like our visitors to see. I thought I was clear? What I suggested is that the block currently occupied by the Federal Courts building should be the site of a "City Museum" with the city's Vistors Center located within. And that the Federal Courts building should be moved to the "Courts Distrct". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gto250us Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 I thought I was clear? What I suggested is that the block currently occupied by the Federal Courts building should be the site of a "City Museum" with the city's Vistors Center located within. And that the Federal Courts building should be moved to the "Courts Distrct". I agree 100%. Although I do like the idea of looking out my window to watch the upcoming Enron circus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amightyhouston Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Hi, all. This is my first time posting a message here! I love this site, I love Houston and its buildings and am thrilled to find a place where people are debating and talking about my hometown's great archtecture. I LOVE the Federal Building. It's a great building, one that tells something of the time in which it was built. It's our own Cold War relic. Its impregnability in the face of storms and floods should count as proof of its worthiness. Its confectionery cube shape fascinated me as a kid. Its little grid of windows plays like an architectural parable of democratic populism: each window is equal.....My big memory of this building is...... walking up to it with some of my high school friends during one of our "downtown" ventures (I grew up in Spring), and as we approached the entrance, THE BUILDING SPOKE TO US through a speaker and said, "May I Help You?"......... Big Brother was watching!! very KGB.....This building's "ugliness" is akin to the Exxon Building at 800 Bell: it's only "ugly" when viewed outside its historical context. It's from that time period when you can really sense the architects working against the harshness of the hot climate----- devising ways for the buildings to "reflect" or "radiate" the heat........this bldg. seems to be made to just shut it all out. I love how each square window has that kind of thermal green glass of the period........... do the windows open? does anyone know?I love this little building, it's not a perfect building but I think something about its strangeness helped spawn some other weird buildings. Downtown HOU is big enough to keep it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJones Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Hmm..the thing about this building is..if it would be given a bit of a makeover, it would not look bad at all. Take a look at Berlin, for Example..there are several modern day structures there consisting of the same basic formula- protruding box windows, and a box shape. Of course, those have better facade materials, and such...and more details, such as awnings, etc, but, if such fixes were done to this building, it would be pretty cool. Have to be a huge makeover, the inside is twice as bad as the outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torvald Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 It is uuugly. But, it does lok like a prison, which is somewhat of justice in itself.for the longest time i thought it was a prison. when i saw the sign riding by, i was surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 My big memory of this building is...... walking up to it with some of my high school friends during one of our "downtown" ventures (I grew up in Spring), and as we approached the entrance, THE BUILDING SPOKE TO US through a speaker and said, "May I Help You?"......... Big Brother was watching!! very KGB..... hehe! Welcome to HAIF, almightyhouston, and thanks for sharing the memory. I think George Orwell would have been fascinated by the Federal Building, too. I agree that it's a great emblem of Cold War architecture. I've also heard that it's just as substantial as it looks, with extremely thick walls. Too bad (IMO) that the ground floor was renovated a few years ago in order to make it more in keeping with the Theater District themes; I liked the little turquoise tiles that used to cover the walls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Welcome amightyhouston! The odd thing about the Federal building is that it was an anomaly even for its time (1962-3). It doesn't resemble architecture of that period in almost any way. If I didn't know better I would have placed it 20 years earlier. Despite the questionable architecture, this has the distinction of being the Houston building that people see in national news more than almost any other - thanks to the major trials held there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gto250us Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 As much as I hate the style of downtown Federal Court House, I do like the spiffing up that it is getting. They are painting the window frames Red. I don't know who came up with the design with little tiny windows, perhaps some government architech. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovernorAggie Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 I think I will be glad when we get a newer Federal Courthouse. The GSA really seems to be making some statements with its more recent architecture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkjones98 Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I worked in the Federal Courthouse one summer in law school, and I was told that the courthouse was designed during the cold war and was supposed to survive a nuclear attack on the City! This may sound absurd, but the first few stories have many extra load bearing columns to provide redundant support. For example, the magistrate judges' courtrooms have pillars in the middle of the room. These columns really stand out, and I would imagine that they would be designed around under normal circumstances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Merged with existing thread, moved from "Crater Houston" to "Downtown" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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