City National Bank At 1001 McKinney St.

[trymahjong]

In conjunction with the Museum’s Sculpted in Steel exhibit, Celeste Williams, Abel Design Group (ADG) Senior Associate and Art Deco architecture expert, will be conducting a two-hour architecture walking tour on
 Saturday, March 12 and Saturday, April 16 in downtown Houston.

1001 McKinney St., a building renovated by Principal Ken Harry just prior to joining ADG, will be one of the stops on the tour. The first building to be built post WWII, 1001 McKinney St. is a 2016 Houston Business Journal Landmark Award Finalist in the Historic Renovation category.



About the Presenter

Celeste Williams, AIA, is a former adjunct assistant professor at University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design, and the first recipient of the Rice Design Alliance’s Initiatives for Houston grant in 2000, which funded her extensive research into Art Deco and Streamline Moderne buildings in Houston.

About Abel Design Group

ADG is located in Houston, Texas with nearly 40 employees. The company delivers impactful and worry-free design solutions to clients both nationally and internationally. Specializing in architecture and interior design, its practice areas include corporate, hospitality, restaurants, and retail. ADG was recently selected for the third consecutive year for the Houston Business Journal’s Fast 100 list, and was also selected as one of the Best Places to Work in the Houston Business Journal’s annual competition.

[mollusk]

Not to detract from the new work, which is nice, but the big renovation occurred in 1999 - 2000.  A new owner bought the building (USAA, IIRC), bought out the few remaining leases, conducted a ritual excorcism, and redid the joint top to bottom.  They also added the only slightly terrifying two way traffic quarter block parking garage behind it.

 

We were among the first tenants upon the re opening, up towards the top.  Among the teething issues were some water leaks, eventually addressed by rappelling workers off the side of the building to grind out and repoint the mortar.  The windows were single pane glass with zero sound insulation (as in, you could hear the busker saxophonist on the street 20 +/- floors below).  Imagine if you will the sensation of hearing what sounded all the world like a dentist's drill, all work day, every work day, for weeks on end.  It was like living in a production of Marathon Man.