Houston Lost And Unbuilt

[WillowBend56]

Here's a soon-to-be-published book on Houston's architectural history we can look forward to:

http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/strhou.html

Anyone recognize the author's name?

[Specwriter]

Anyone recognize the author's name?

Steve Strom was the director of the Houston Metroplitan Research Center located in the Julia Ideson Building of the Houston Public Library. I met Mr. Strom in the early 90's while working on a project. He is an intelligent and knowledgeable individual and the book should be excellent. I am looking forward to seeing.

[roym]

Thanks for the heads up! Looks interesting.

[fatesdisastr]

wow that sounds really interesting i cant wait

[ernie5823]

Blurb about this book was posted on another forum (Dallas history) that I'm on & I thought it might be interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/Houston-Lost-Unbuilt-Steven-Strom/dp/0292721137/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269178677&sr=1-1

"Product Description

Driven by an almost fanatical desire for whatever is new, "modern," and likely to make money, Houston is constantly in the process of remaking itself. Few structures remain from the nineteenth century, and even much of the twentieth-century built environment has fallen before the wrecking ball of "progress." Indeed, the demolition of older buildings in Houston can be compared to the destruction of cityscapes such as Berlin, Warsaw, and Tokyo in World War II. But because this wholesale restructuring of Houston's built environment has happened in peacetime, historically minded people have only recently sounded an alarm over what is being lost and the toll this destruction is taking on Houstonians' sense of place. Houston Lost and Unbuilt presents an extensive catalogue of twentieth-century public and commercial buildings that have been lost forever, as well as an intriguing selection of buildings that never made it off the drawing board. The lost buildings (or lost interiors of buildings) span a wide range, from civic gathering places such as the Houston Municipal Auditorium and the Astrodome to commercial enterprises such as the Foley Brothers, Sears Roebuck, and Sakowitz department stores to "Theatre Row" downtown to neighborhoods such as Fourth Ward/Freedmen's Town. Steven Strom's introductions and photo captions describe each significant building's contribution to the civic life of Houston. The "unbuilt" section of the book includes numerous previously unpublished architectural renderings of proposed projects such as a multi-building city center, monorail, and people mover system, all which reflect Houston's fascination with the future and optimism that technology will solve all of the city's problems.

About the Author

STEVEN R. STROM is a communications specialist for the Aerospace Corporation in Los Angeles, California. He holds an M.A. in American history from Boston College. Strom headed the Architectural Archive at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC) for nine years and later served as Director of HMRC. He has published numerous articles on architecture, space, and Houston history, as well as the book International Launch Site Guide. Houston Lost and Unbuilt grows out of award-winning articles he originally published in Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston."

[mkultra25]

I got this fairly soon after it was published. Having a fair number of books dealing with Houston's history, I was wondering how much it would contain that was truly new (at least to those of us without an encyclopedic knowledge of the HMRC's holdings), and was pleased to find that it had quite a few photos that I'd not previously seen.

Anyone reading this forum would definitely find much of interest in it.