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Houston Potential Projects That Were Never Built


Subdude

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Cotton Exchange Building proposal, 1921

http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/CottonEx.jpg

Sterling Hotel, late 1920s

http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/SterlingHotel.jpg

McCarthy Center, 1945. Hotel and garage only built.

http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/McCarthyCenter.jpg

Red Wolf Hotel, Medical Center, 1948

http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/RedWolf.jpg

Adams Petroleum Center, 1954. The base was built but the tower was not. Base now demolished.

http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/APC.jpg

Rice Motel, 1960. Main at Prairie

http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/RiceMotel.jpg

Jetero Airport, 1961. Redesigned.

http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/Jetero.jpg

Savoy-Field office building, approx. 1964. Hotel and garage only completed.

http://xs36.xs.to/pics/05271/SavoyField.jpg

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Allen Center original plan. The first two towers were completed to plan. A planned shopping mall under a glass roof and a theater (lower right) were never built.

AllenCenter.jpg

Del Oro development. View is intersection of 288 and the South Loop.

DelOro.jpg

Houston Center. The mother of all developments. Only towers were built according to the original master plan.

HoustonCenter.jpg

United Bank Plaza. The section on the left was never built.

UnitedBankPlaza.jpg

Menil Guest House by Luis Barragan, 1984. This would have been built adjacent to the Menil Collection.

MenilGuest.jpg

Main at Congress development for redevelopment of First National Bank building.

MainCongress.jpg

Phillip Johnson design for Cullen Center. The site ultimately became the Continental Center.

PhillipJohnsonCullenCtr.jpg

Bank of the Southwest

bankofthesouthwest.jpg

1700 Travis - Campeau Building

Campeau.jpg

Block 265 proposal

Block265.jpg

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Luminaire Houston, by Century Development and Skywalker Development/Lucasfilms. This was a retail and entertainment redevelopment of the old Albert Thomas Convention Center, slated to open in 1992.

Luminaire.jpg

e-Square. The "e-" name is a great 1990s touch, and is also a clue to the name of one of the developers.

eSquare.jpg

Wedge Building annex

wedge201.jpg

Ritz Carlton Hotel, Fannin St. The building on the left has now been demolished.

RitzCarlton.jpg

Renaissance Hotel, San Jacinto. Another idea for the old Texaco building.

kirksey.jpg

Six Houston Center

6HoustonCzieglercooper.jpg

AIM headquarters, Greenway Plaza

aimhq_main_1.jpg

Spirit of Houston statue

spiritofhouston1.jpg

Landry's Aquarium Observation Tower

AquariumTower.jpg

Astrodome space theme park proposal

dome.jpg

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Very entertaining! Thank you. Keep it coming. First your S Main postcard collection and now this. What's next from your bag of tricks?

I had forgotten all about that Luminare Center thing that predated Bayou Place. Maybe they should have built that instead, given the way it turned out.

If Houston Center had been built out the way it was planned, I understand it would have turned the streets below into a dark, dreary space filled with automobile exhaust and vagrants, since most of the pedestrian activity would have been above street level in secure, climate controlled passageways.

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The last one got built. Just not in Houston. Looks like it went up in Tokyo, in a smaller form (earthquake height restrictions) with a few other modifications.

SumidaWardOffice-002.jpg

It's a government office building. "Sumida City Hall" - the equivalent of a neighborhood ward office.

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I love the AIM building pic, it's uber.  Why did that one die? Did they run out of money? I have money I could donate, I was going to use this 99cents for two tacos at Jack in the Box, but what the heck!

AIM planned a major expansion and hiring a bunch of people. Then Enron broke. Then a bunch of other financial companies had scandals. They are wisely keeping a low profile until market conditions improve, and have decided not to expand. For now.

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That Landry's tower is nothing short of butt-ugly. We should be eternally grateful that for once, city leaders bowed up and said 'No!'

Yeah, but once they bathed it in bright blue light, it would have been transformed into a thing of beauty!

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I came across a building very similar to the AIM proposal when I was in Tokyo.

AIM:

aimhq_main_1.jpg

Atago Gren Hills Mori Tower:

AtagoGreenHillsMori-001.jpg

Cesar Pelli did the Mori building.  Anyone know if he put together the AIM design, too?

The people who designed the AIM HQ were the same ones who did the new Symphony Tower, in ATL. Note the massive resemblance.

pic003.jpg

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Somehow, I don't miss that we never had most of these built. They may have made the skyline look a little less modern, due to the number of international style glass boxes(and generic concrete boxes) that would have been built. I do like the BOTSW, Block 256 designs, though, as well as some of the ones not pictured here (Block 261, Project X, and Y, etc). The campeau center looks like something out of Detroit, though (really old, almost genuine 20's in appearance) and may have thrown off the balance of the skyline, once again.

I'm happy with what we have:

SKDT1039.jpg

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