trymahjong Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 On 8/21/2018 at 9:53 AM, Specwriter said: I agree, like the Gracie Mansion in New York City, the Kirby Mansion could serve as the "official residence" of the mayor. That doesn't mean he or she has to sleep there but it would be wonderful for official receptions, special ceremonies, and visiting dignitaries' overnight visits. IIRC, former New York mayor, Ed Koch (a bachelor at the time) was the only NYC mayor in modern times to actually reside in the Gracie Mansion. I doubt Michael Bloomberg, Rudy Giuliani, or Bill de Blasio even considered living there. The Kirby Mansion is a jewel that could shine for Houston—It would be great if more people got behind the idea of “official residence”—— too bad there isn’t a milestone celebration( like Houston’s 200th birthday (instead of 182th) that could gather momentum to save the mansion. But maybe someone with deep pockets can come to rescue. LOL—Giuliani did live in Gracie Mansion. Back in the height of his marriage troubles’, his wife took out a restraining order against his girl friend to prevent her from entering Gracie Mansion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 15 hours ago, trymahjong said: LOL—Giuliani did live in Gracie Mansion. Back in the height of his marriage troubles’, his wife took out a restraining order against his girl friend to prevent her from entering Gracie Mansion. Best people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooklyn173 Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 On 8/21/2018 at 9:53 AM, Specwriter said: I agree, like the Gracie Mansion in New York City, the Kirby Mansion could serve as the "official residence" of the mayor. That doesn't mean he or she has to sleep there but it would be wonderful for official receptions, special ceremonies, and visiting dignitaries' overnight visits. IIRC, former New York mayor, Ed Koch (a bachelor at the time) was the only NYC mayor in modern times to actually reside in the Gracie Mansion. I doubt Michael Bloomberg, Rudy Giuliani, or Bill de Blasio even considered living there. I too would love for this building to be saved and possibly even used as a focal point for whatever replaces the Pierce Elevated. As for Gracie Mansion, I'm not sure what you mean "in modern times", but it has only been the mayoral official residence since the 1940s. though George Washington did have a command headquarters there for a while in another building near the site. And, as far as my memory goes, all mayors (including DeBlasio now) have lived there - except for Bloomberg. The City took advantage of that opportunity by doing extensive renovation and modernization during that relative downtime. The building was still used for official functions during the 12 years of Mayor Mike. And, while a car dealer owner has apparently bought the site, and owns lots of other property around the area, why is everyone just assuming it'll be a car dealership? He (they?) are business people and may be positioning themselves to take advantage of the increasing interest in Midtown. As an aside, much of the high rise development on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River is owned and operated by a trucking magnate who just happened to own a lot of waterfront property when the waterfront was 'rediscovered'. Suddenly he realized that he was also now in the real estate development business. Now it is all highrises and new parks and homes. And Ed "How am I doing" Koch, was never married. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 16 hours ago, trymahjong said: The Kirby Mansion is a jewel that could shine for Houston—It would be great if more people got behind the idea of “official residence”—— too bad there isn’t a milestone celebration( like Houston’s 200th birthday (instead of 182th) that could gather momentum to save the mansion. But maybe someone with deep pockets can come to rescue. LOL—Giuliani did live in Gracie Mansion. Back in the height of his marriage troubles’, his wife took out a restraining order against his girl friend to prevent her from entering Gracie Mansion. Kind of a cool idea, but the folks on AM 700 would howl and holler 'til kingdom come if the city paid millions of dollars to buy a mansion for the mayor to live in. Look what a brouhaha it generated when they paid like $40,000 for a nice desk to go into the lobby of City Hall. And that is a public lobby that forms a first impression of our city government to visitors and special guests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 3 minutes ago, H-Town Man said: Kind of a cool idea, but the folks on AM 700 would howl and holler 'til kingdom come if the city paid millions of dollars to buy a mansion for the mayor to live in. Look what a brouhaha it generated when they paid like $40,000 for a nice desk to go into the lobby of City Hall. And that is a public lobby that forms a first impression of our city government to visitors and special guests. Not a talk radio listener, but I say, make the dignitaries go out to that forsaken municipal courthouse building in Alief to which I was summoned for jury duty if they spent all of the drainage tax money before getting to pretty lobby furniture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 1 hour ago, Nate99 said: Not a talk radio listener, but I say, make the dignitaries go out to that forsaken municipal courthouse building in Alief to which I was summoned for jury duty if they spent all of the drainage tax money before getting to pretty lobby furniture. This was a long time ago, different city department, etc. The lobby at City Hall belongs to everyone in Houston. Anyone with interest in the matter should walk into it sometime and get familiar with the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobruss Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 Back in the late 80's and early nineties a friend of mine owned the building and officed there with his brother. They were oil and gas brokers doing very well at the time and then things went south and they sold the building. I had a chance to visit him several times and was always impressed with how beautiful it was. Once the Pierce elevated comes down I could see this becoming a focal point for the area as possibly a boutique hotel or some kind of civic building. Just for the architectural preservation and the history behind the early owners is enough to make some kind of effort to save this building. I thought we had made huge strides in the last five years with the amazing number of conversions of old edifices into hotels and rentals. I counted almost ten projects that had been repurposed from old buildings and I thought that maybe developers had started to see the forest for the trees. The fact of the matter is some just don't give a damn and all that matters to them is how much money they will make. I'd love to hear from the new owner on whether he is speculating or has some master plan for the area. I was really disheartened to hear he owns the blocks around his dealership. Does that mean that he owns the lot where Mongoose and Cobra is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 18 hours ago, trymahjong said: The Kirby Mansion is a jewel that could shine for Houston—It would be great if more people got behind the idea of “official residence”—— too bad there isn’t a milestone celebration( like Houston’s 200th birthday (instead of 182th) that could gather momentum to save the mansion. But maybe someone with deep pockets can come to rescue. This isn't SimCity where you get a Mayor's House as a first goal...if it was, I bet you I could bulldoze Houston out of traffic congestion issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 2 hours ago, IronTiger said: This isn't SimCity where you get a Mayor's House as a first goal...if it was, I bet you I could bulldoze Houston out of traffic congestion issues. And I don't get a House of Worship and Cemetery reward if I become mayor?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted August 24, 2018 Share Posted August 24, 2018 This is unfortunate. I'm normally okay with demolition of a structure, so long as what replaces it is a economic, artistic, or public improvement over the previous structure. Should this go to a car-dealership, which no offense to car dealers, seems like a gross use of land in the midtown area. Especially since residents in this part of town are more likely to be walking, biking, and taking public transportation to their place of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted August 24, 2018 Share Posted August 24, 2018 14 hours ago, Brooklyn173 said: I too would love for this building to be saved and possibly even used as a focal point for whatever replaces the Pierce Elevated. As for Gracie Mansion, I'm not sure what you mean "in modern times", but it has only been the mayoral official residence since the 1940s. though George Washington did have a command headquarters there for a while in another building near the site. And, as far as my memory goes, all mayors (including DeBlasio now) have lived there - except for Bloomberg. The City took advantage of that opportunity by doing extensive renovation and modernization during that relative downtime. The building was still used for official functions during the 12 years of Mayor Mike. And, while a car dealer owner has apparently bought the site, and owns lots of other property around the area, why is everyone just assuming it'll be a car dealership? He (they?) are business people and may be positioning themselves to take advantage of the increasing interest in Midtown. As an aside, much of the high rise development on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River is owned and operated by a trucking magnate who just happened to own a lot of waterfront property when the waterfront was 'rediscovered'. Suddenly he realized that he was also now in the real estate development business. Now it is all highrises and new parks and homes. And Ed "How am I doing" Koch, was never married. Brooklyn, you and trymahjong have certainly taken me to school about the mayoral residence in New York (I'm not usually so sloppy in my "research"). My ignorance is now cured. Yes, Ed Koch was never married even during the time he lived in the Gracie Mansion. I guess I got that right by default. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 On 8/23/2018 at 9:35 AM, Nate99 said: Not a talk radio listener, but I say, make the dignitaries go out to that forsaken municipal courthouse building in Alief to which I was summoned for jury duty if they spent all of the drainage tax money before getting to pretty lobby furniture. First, the drainage tax money is not being used for random crap, like so many people who haven't actually looked at the financials seem to think. The City Hall lobby piece was 20 or so years ago, and was mostly funded by donations. The morons who hate any sort of government spending argued a folding table would be adequate, then proceeded to say that it would be perfectly fine to put city employees in a warehouse on orange crates and random furniture, and preferably, no air conditioning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 On 8/24/2018 at 10:33 PM, Ross said: First, the drainage tax money is not being used for random crap, like so many people who haven't actually looked at the financials seem to think. The City Hall lobby piece was 20 or so years ago, and was mostly funded by donations. The morons who hate any sort of government spending argued a folding table would be adequate, then proceeded to say that it would be perfectly fine to put city employees in a warehouse on orange crates and random furniture, and preferably, no air conditioning. Random crap is in the eye of the beholder. I look forward to the re-vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asubrt Posted August 30, 2018 Share Posted August 30, 2018 On Nancy Sarnoff's Looped In podcast (with checking out if you've never given it a listen), she claims that the Kirby Mansion is going to be MOVED within the next 2 years, not demolished. No new location given. <iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6983978/height/250/theme/custom/autoplay/no/autonext/no/thumbnail/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/backward/render-playlist/yes/custom-color/050700/" height="250" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asubrt Posted August 30, 2018 Share Posted August 30, 2018 Just now, asubrt said: On Nancy Sarnoff's Looped In podcast (with checking out if you've never given it a listen), she claims that the Kirby Mansion is going to be MOVED within the next 2 years, not demolished. No new location given. <iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6983978/height/250/theme/custom/autoplay/no/autonext/no/thumbnail/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/backward/render-playlist/yes/custom-color/050700/" height="250" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> Sorry tried to embed the podcast but clearly that didn't work, and can't edit it out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phillip_white Posted August 30, 2018 Share Posted August 30, 2018 36 minutes ago, asubrt said: Sorry tried to embed the podcast but clearly that didn't work, and can't edit it out... loopedin.libsyn.com/ep89-hip-hotels-and-moving-mansions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted August 30, 2018 Share Posted August 30, 2018 4 hours ago, asubrt said: On Nancy Sarnoff's Looped In podcast (with checking out if you've never given it a listen), she claims that the Kirby Mansion is going to be MOVED within the next 2 years, not demolished. No new location given. <iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6983978/height/250/theme/custom/autoplay/no/autonext/no/thumbnail/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/backward/render-playlist/yes/custom-color/050700/" height="250" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> POTD! Wow, I imagine it will have to be cut up into pieces and reassembled. Maybe not. Quite a project. I wonder where it could go? Ideally, any new owner should agree to give it Protected Landmark designation. That way it's the last move it will ever have to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted August 31, 2018 Share Posted August 31, 2018 18 hours ago, H-Town Man said: POTD! Wow, I imagine it will have to be cut up into pieces and reassembled. Maybe not. Quite a project. I wonder where it could go? Ideally, any new owner should agree to give it Protected Landmark designation. That way it's the last move it will ever have to make. The Fairmount Hotel in San Antonio was moved several blocks about 30 years ago. It can be done but it cannot be cheap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oNEeULPs_Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.