Houston oddities

[Montrose1100]

I thought I would start a topic on some weird/cool/thought provoking buildings and structures in Houston.

A couple that come to mind, the first being the two story pepto colored building in Seabrook on 146. Another, the Wells Fargo on Hilcroft that has the drive thru under street level. And finally, the D'Vinci Building on Fountain View. Ground floor retail, but the building looks tragic and small. Will post pictures tomorrow, too many beers.

Another one I'd like to know the history on is that 12/13 story grey building on FM1960 north of the IAH towers on..... Forgot. It's had the 713-office4rent yellow sign on it for forever.

[Subdude]

The Penguin Arms.

 

 

[Montrose1100]

One more, what's up with the 2 apartments on the top floor of the Community Self Storage on Voss? I imagine it's like that Stephen King story with the germaphobe who ended up drowning in cochroaches.

[Subdude]

The Raven Tower!

 

 

[Montrose1100]

 

The dotcom bust called, they want their everything back. Seriously, what was this supposed to be? A second story with grand stairs, ground floor retail, and what, one maybe two top stories of office?

 

 

I will snap a photo when I'm in Seabrook again for work. Another one is the Container Tower of Jesus on I-45S heading North. Anyone have any odd buildings they are curious about?

 

Found this on Bing, 1210 Bayport. This thing is tiny!

Edited June 4, 2013 by Montrose1100

[Ross]

Better hurry for the container tower, it looked like they were tearing the surrounding stuff down Memorial Day weekend.

[Montrose1100]

And I give you; The Container Jesus Tower

[samagon]

Beer can house

Orange show

The sculptures on 288 just south of 610

'Mount rush hour' on i10 just after the 45 exit headed east

That weird building on Ashford point drive 'palace of the golden orbs'

[Subdude]

Re: the Darque Tan building, wrong bust.  It belongs firmly to the real estate/banking bust of the 1980s.  It was completed just before things caved in.  Actually at the time it was considered quite progressive Post-Modern architecture, by Arquitectonica out of Miami.  I think it makes a nice architectural relic of the time, like the GRB Convention Center.

 

 

Lots of storage places have apartments embedded within.  They are living quarters for the managers.

 

 

 

 

[Montrose1100]

Re: the Darque Tan building, wrong bust.  It belongs firmly to the real estate/banking bust of the 1980s.  It was completed just before things caved in.  Actually at the time it was considered quite progressive Post-Modern architecture, by Arquitectonica out of Miami.  I think it makes a nice architectural relic of the time, like the GRB Convention Center.

 

 

Lots of storage places have apartments embedded within.  They are living quarters for the managers.

 

I don't know if I'd put it on the same level as the GRB. I guess if it was built in the 80's, and looks like every strip center that went up in Los Angeles in 2000, makes it unique.

[august948]

Beer can houseOrange showThe sculptures on 288 just south of 610'Mount rush hour' on i10 just after the 45 exit headed eastThat weird building on Ashford point drive 'palace of the golden orbs'

Ah, yes, the Chong Hua Sheng Mu Holy Palace. It would have been pretty cool if they had been able to finish the full development which included not only this building but several other temples.

http://swamplot.com/most-unknown-ashford-point-palace-of-the-golden-orbs/2008-05-05/

[samagon]

Thanks August, growing up and living about 2 miles from that building (and driving by it at least once a week) I always took it as par for the course and didn't think it was very unique, or eccentric, just a weird looking building.

 

It wasn't till I read that story on SL that I realized how eccentric that building really was!

 

Just like the dome, and other things that are absolutely unique to this city (and add to part of the character that make us weirder than Austin could ever hope to be), I hope it never gets torn down.

 

I also always thought that the Menil, thanks mostly to the location, was pretty odd. You have to really try hard to not be confused at the sight of that kind building in the middle of all those old bungalows. What makes it even more unique in my mind is that you could be one street away in any direction and you'd never know it was there without actually knowing it's there.

Edited June 4, 2013 by samagon

[kylejack]

I also always thought that the Menil, thanks mostly to the location, was pretty odd. You have to really try hard to not be confused at the sight of that kind building in the middle of all those old bungalows. What makes it even more unique in my mind is that you could be one street away in any direction and you'd never know it was there without actually knowing it's there.

 

The Menil people are brilliant. They buy up everything in the surrounding blocks. It serves the dual purpose of allowing them to collect rent from the people living there (financing the free museum) and to maintain a sense of place both by painting all the bungalows gray and by not having any ugly commercial development pop up on those streets to ruin the peaceful atmosphere of the Menil campus.

Edited June 4, 2013 by kylejack

[august948]

Thanks August, growing up and living about 2 miles from that building (and driving by it at least once a week) I always took it as par for the course and didn't think it was very unique, or eccentric, just a weird looking building.

It wasn't till I read that story on SL that I realized how eccentric that building really was!

Just like the dome, and other things that are absolutely unique to this city (and add to part of the character that make us weirder than Austin could ever hope to be), I hope it never gets torn down.

Yeah, I didn't know it was there until I stumbled upon it on a bike ride south of my house. For years I thought it was some sort of radar installation until I found some posts either here or on swamplot about it. I didn't know that it was part of a larger project, though, until I read the swamplot post today.

I also always thought that the Menil, thanks mostly to the location, was pretty odd. You have to really try hard to not be confused at the sight of that kind building in the middle of all those old bungalows. What makes it even more unique in my mind is that you could be one street away in any direction and you'd never know it was there without actually knowing it's there.

That seems to be the case for a lot of things in Houston. The "Holy Palalce" is only one of probably at least a dozen interesting east and south asian temples on the west side of town, but you wouldn't know they're there unless you drive down a side street or take an unusual route. The only one I can think of that's out in the open on a major street is a Buddhist temple off Bellaire just west of the beltway, and even then you can only see it from the back and across a drainage basin/public park.

[plumber2]

 

The dotcom bust called, they want their everything back. Seriously, what was this supposed to be? A second story with grand stairs, ground floor retail, and what, one maybe two top stories of office?

 

 

I will snap a photo when I'm in Seabrook again for work. Another one is the Container Tower of Jesus on I-45S heading North. Anyone have any odd buildings they are curious about?

 

Found this on Bing, 1210 Bayport. This thing is tiny!

 

That was called Curley's Corner back in the 70's. He sold bait, fishing license, block ice, beer and of course fishing tackle. Postage stamp size piece of property. It's at the intersection of State Highway 146 and NASA Rd 1.

[Andrew Broadfoot]

That landmark in Seabrook has gone through several transformations over the years.

[sevfiv]

1177 West Loop S https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1177+west+loop&hl=en&ll=29.757648,-95.455173&spn=0.005387,0.006968&sll=31.168934,-100.076842&sspn=15.275439,28.54248&t=h&hnear=1177+W+Loop+S+Fwy,+Houston,+Texas+77027&z=18&layer=c&cbll=29.757785,-95.455178&panoid=gMVoFTFJqdSNjV3hyLne5w&cbp=12,134.87,,0,-37.23

 

Apparently at the right angle it looks like this (image from Spire Realty's site):