Downtown Skyline Update

[dbigtex56]

46 minutes ago, Montrose1100 said:

Why do I care so much about dating this photo?

I ask myself the same question. 
It's a way to test my memory, and my powers of observation and deduction.  And it's fun. 

[Montrose1100]

1 hour ago, dbigtex56 said:

I ask myself the same question. 
It's a way to test my memory, and my powers of observation and deduction.  And it's fun. 

You and maybe others might enjoy this piece of history on Heritage Plaza. I've never seen a rendering for a previous design, but I think I'll take the pyramid over whatever KPF thinks this is.

Anyway, found it while trying to nail a construction date on the building. 

Edit: And to steer completely off-topic, in the link, it mentions a project on 1212 Main which is what bankrupted the original developer - not this project.

[samagon]

totally cool stuff.

I bet someone could aggregate the data from this forum and write a few books on the history of Houston.

[hindesky]

Looks like someone moved downtown or the rail line, still cool looking.

[hindesky]

[Highrise Tower]

[tigereye]

 

[hindesky]

"The Allen is blocking my view of the buildings downtown 😤🤮🤪 " said the Karens on reddit.

 

[bobruss]

Are these complainers, the same people who live in the Astoria by any chance?

[H-Town Man]

On 8/31/2021 at 11:13 AM, Montrose1100 said:

You and maybe others might enjoy this piece of history on Heritage Plaza. I've never seen a rendering for a previous design, but I think I'll take the pyramid over whatever KPF thinks this is.

Anyway, found it while trying to nail a construction date on the building. 

Edit: And to steer completely off-topic, in the link, it mentions a project on 1212 Main which is what bankrupted the original developer - not this project.

Oh my.

 

[editor]

On 6/1/2021 at 6:21 PM, hindesky said:

Reddit u/Hijack32 posted this pic of a guy that caught a huge gar fish with the skyline in the background. Others have posted pics of alligators here. I guess that is why the UHD mascot is a gator.

 

A buffalo gar, for which Buffalo Bayou is named.  Which doesn't explain why there's a bison on the Buffalo Bayou wayfinding signs.

The Karankawa indians used to make farm implements outta them fish.

[hindesky]

1977 downtown. From reddit u/morganmonroe81

[bobruss]

I wanted to pass along a great vantage point to catch the whole skyline in one image. You need a driver so you can concentrate on the view, but it"s worth the effort. Go over the 610 east bridge over the ship channel. 

The best approach would be from north to south.

Everything melts into one giant skyline and you can truly capture the size and magnitude of our exploding skyline.

Its all there downtown, TMC, Greenway Plaza, Uptown, Memorial City, Citi Center, and everything in between.

[Naviguessor]

The 610 bridge is due for replacement in the coming decade, I believe.   I can imagine a pedestrian element included in the design.    

[H-Town Man]

On 11/17/2021 at 9:51 AM, hindesky said:

1977 downtown. From reddit u/morganmonroe81

Jeez, all that parking. Bulldozers had already done most of their work around Market Square. Still a building hanging on there at Preston & Travis and some stuff on Milam. Not sure what that stuff is on the Lyric Center block.

 

[cspwal]

Why did the main cluster of skyscrapers develop where they did? Is it because of the 45 and Allen parkway ramps being right there?

[skooljunkie]

On 11/3/2021 at 2:48 PM, editor said:

 

A buffalo gar, for which Buffalo Bayou is named.  Which doesn't explain why there's a bison on the Buffalo Bayou wayfinding signs.

The Karankawa indians used to make farm implements outta them fish.

That looks like an alligator gar.

Pretty sure Buffalo Bayou was named after actual buffalo: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/houston-bayou-names-origin-15613757.php

[H-Town Man]

18 hours ago, cspwal said:

Why did the main cluster of skyscrapers develop where they did? Is it because of the 45 and Allen parkway ramps being right there?

Good question. I think the tunnel system kept buildings in a clump. Why that clump developed where it did probably had something to do with proximity to existing office buildings along Main Street and the feeling that west of Main Street was the "good side" of Main Street since it was in the direction of River Oaks, Allen Parkway, etc.

There was a time when "Uptown" referred to the part of Main Street around where the Gulf Building is, as opposed to the older parts north of Texas Ave. Jesse Jones helped lead a migration of developers to "Uptown" as Lower Main and the areas around it slid into disrepute. 

Later on, in the 50's-60's, "Uptown" referred to the area around South Main and Holcombe with the Shamrock and the Prudential Building, which area is now a part of the Texas Medical Center. Especially with the Astrodome coming along, this area felt like the future of Houston.

Then Hines built the Galleria and "City Post Oak" eclipsed South Main and eventually claimed the name of "Uptown."

 

 

[BeerNut]

u/Jimmyfallonisntfunny  Reddit

 

[BeerNut]

 

[bobruss]

Driving into town on 59 north provides a great view of the dynamic cluster of buildings centered around the Pennzoil

bldg., and creates a powerful massing of some pretty amazing architecture.

Also the view on the new exit ramp to 59 and 288 south off south 45 just before the Pierce elevated offers a dynamic view of the outstretched skyline from the Med center to the galleria area and all points in between. 

[Montrose1100]

On 11/23/2021 at 1:40 PM, H-Town Man said:

Good question. I think the tunnel system kept buildings in a clump. Why that clump developed where it did probably had something to do with proximity to existing office buildings along Main Street and the feeling that west of Main Street was the "good side" of Main Street since it was in the direction of River Oaks, Allen Parkway, etc.

There was a time when "Uptown" referred to the part of Main Street around where the Gulf Building is, as opposed to the older parts north of Texas Ave. Jesse Jones helped lead a migration of developers to "Uptown" as Lower Main and the areas around it slid into disrepute. 

Later on, in the 50's-60's, "Uptown" referred to the area around South Main and Holcombe with the Shamrock and the Prudential Building, which area is now a part of the Texas Medical Center. Especially with the Astrodome coming along, this area felt like the future of Houston.

Then Hines built the Galleria and "City Post Oak" eclipsed South Main and eventually claimed the name of "Uptown."

 

 

I read the Texas Monthly link https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/three-gentlemen-one-ghost-and-a-skyscraper/ King Kirby posted on SSC. It's basically about how 601 Travis came to be. They were worried about Main becoming a slum, and adjacent properties closer to City Hall. Also talks about the Tunnel System. Wish they had more pictures, would love to see the models and all of the proposals. 

[H-Town Man]

On 12/14/2021 at 4:57 PM, Montrose1100 said:

I read the Texas Monthly link https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/three-gentlemen-one-ghost-and-a-skyscraper/ King Kirby posted on SSC. It's basically about how 601 Travis came to be. They were worried about Main becoming a slum, and adjacent properties closer to City Hall. Also talks about the Tunnel System. Wish they had more pictures, would love to see the models and all of the proposals. 

Thanks Montrose, that is a great article! Irony of ironies that what they thought was keeping downtown alive - replacing all those little buildings on Block 68 with a really big building - was just hurting it, from our perspective today. Look at the before and after on this link and decide which looks more interesting:

http://www.houstontimeportal.net/milby-hotel.html

This passage from the article is also painful to read:

It was by far the largest plat on the block and for years had been the home of Montgomery Ward, until that department store moved to the suburbs in the early sixties. The rest of the block held odd-shaped little lots of no particular interest. The old Milby Hotel, weathered and forlorn, stood on the northwest corner, at Travis and Texas. On Texas, directly across from the Rice Hotel, were a liquor store, a newsstand, and the most popular lunch spot in town, Kelley’s Oyster Bar. Along Main, on the eastern side of the block, were a dozen tiny shops, all of which had seen better days, including a haberdashery, a furrier, a drugstore, a National Shirt shop, the Felix Mexican Restaurant, Thom McAn and Hanover shoe stores, a toy shop, and two jewelry stores.

Horne was old enough to remember the row of stores as it had looked in the forties, when it was the prime retail location in all of Houston and the intersection of Main and Texas was perhaps the busiest corner in the state. In those days the shops catered strictly to the carriage trade, but now most of them were victims of suburban shopping malls and dealt in either secondhand goods or discount clothing. Horne had seen blocks like this before; they were all too common in downtown Houston in the sixties. Montgomery Ward’s evacuation seemed almost clairvoyant.

[Nate_56]

Pic taken from Crown Castle

[hindesky]

Reddit u/mtrash posted this pic from the JP Morgan Chase Tower.

[Highrise Tower]

At a TMC garage today.

[hindesky]

1955.

[BEES?!]

Which building is under construction in that photo? 

[strickn]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/919_Milam

[hindesky]

From the 8th floor of the Medplace building  at 1315 St. Joseph Pkwy.