San Jacinto Trust Company Building On Main St.

[57Tbird]

San Jacinto National Bank On Main St.

In a previous thread, Heights2Bastrop suggested this as a new category for the forum. I'll start it as a new topic and see what develops. There have been many photos of old Houston posted elsewhere in this forum, especially by Subdude, which have been great and have brought back many pleasant memories for me.

Here are some photos of an old building that I remember from my early childhood. I saw this building every Sunday, when we went to church, and never forgot the small mural above the door. It was built in 1928 and demolished about 1946. What a shame it only had a life of 18 years. Do any of you old-timers or historians know what replaced it?

Note the policeman on horseback

Front door

Lobby

[Subdude]

This was at Main and Lamar, so it was replaced by Foley's. Were you headed to the church at Lamar and Fannin?

[57Tbird]

This was at Main and Lamar, so it was replaced by Foley's.  Were you headed to the church at Lamar and Fannin?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Right...on both.

[lowspark]

I don't have any photos, but does anyone remember (or have photos) of the Foleys Downtown windows at Christmas time? Back in the 60s they had scenes with moving figures in their windows during December. We used to take a special drive downtown on a Sunday in December to look at their windows. This was probably mid 60s, I'm guessing around 1965, 1966, when I was around 5 or 6. Don't know when they started or when it ended.

[gnu]

I don't have any photos, but does anyone remember (or have photos) of the Foleys Downtown windows at Christmas time? Back in the 60s they had scenes with moving figures in their windows during December. We used to take a special drive downtown on a Sunday in December to look at their windows. This was probably mid 60s, I'm guessing around 1965, 1966, when I was around 5 or 6. Don't know when they started or when it ended.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have a 8mm home movie of my mom and my older sister looking at the Christmas Foley's window display from about 1957. It would be nice to convert it to DVD sometime.

[Subdude]

I don't have any photos, but does anyone remember (or have photos) of the Foleys Downtown windows at Christmas time? Back in the 60s they had scenes with moving figures in their windows during December. We used to take a special drive downtown on a Sunday in December to look at their windows. This was probably mid 60s, I'm guessing around 1965, 1966, when I was around 5 or 6. Don't know when they started or when it ended.

A friend of mine who is from Houston has said the same thing, that the Foley's Christmas displays were incredible. She also said they did a great job decorating the interior and that there was a toy department.

[Subdude]

Right...on both.

Do you remember this on the roof of the church?

[nmainguy]

I remember that roof garden at 1st Baptist. I think I remember some guys playing BB up there one time. It backed up to the side of Sakowitz. I also remember the Foley's Christmas windows and going to the Azaela Terrace on the 5th floor with my mom every Christmas. I also remember the HUGE decorations spanning Main Street. (MAN! Am I showing my age or WHAT??)

[nmainguy]

...and check out this site http://www.houstonhistory.com/poduct2/album2/jsalbum.html

for hundreds of Houston historical images.

[57Tbird]

Do you remember this on the roof of the church?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I certainly do remember it. And that appears to be the top of the old Humble building in the background. Is it gone too? What is now where the church was? Do you know when it went? I was married there in 1957. Oops! I'm showing my age.

[Houston19514]

You will be glad to know the old Humble building still stands and was recently converted into apartments, a Courtyard by Mariott Hotel, and a Residence Inn Hotel. They did a nice job on it.

[nmainguy]

I certainly do remember it.    And that appears to be the top of the old Humble building in the background.  Is it gone too?  What is now where the church was?  Do you know when it went?  I was married there in 1957.  Oops!  I'm showing my age.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

1st Baptisit moved to I-10 and N. Post Oak. There is a (maybe)20 story building there now...Howell Oil?

[nmainguy]

In a previous thread, Heights2Bastrop suggested this as a new category for the forum.  I'll start it as a new topic and see what develops.  There have been many photos of old Houston posted elsewhere in this forum, especially by Subdude, which have been great and have brought back many pleasant memories for me.

Here are some photos of an old building that I remember from my early childhood.  I saw this building every Sunday, when we went to church, and never forgot the small mural above the door.  It was built in 1928 and demolished about 1946.  What a shame it only had a life of 18 years.  Do any of you old-timers or historians know what replaced it?

Note the policeman on horseback

Front door

Lobby

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That was the San Jacinto Bank-I found it here: http://users.ev1.net/~plhailey/hpat/index.html

[nmainguy]

Wrong link...sorry)

[57Tbird]

Very interesting to compare the more recent photo, which, from looking at the cars, appears to have been taken just before it was demolished in the mid-40's to make room for Foley's. Another story was added sometime after it was built in 1928. It was done without disturbing the appearance of the top of the building which remained the same...almost as if the new floor was sandwiched in between the first and second floors of the original structure.

[Subdude]

Interesting, good catch. It seems like it was more common once to add floors on the top of existing buildings. There were a few others downtown where this happened.

[Ashikaga]

Interesting, good catch. It seems like it was more common once to add floors on the top of existing buildings. There were a few others downtown where this happened.

Back in ancient Rome & Greece, buildings were designed and built thinking in terms of how many HUNDREDS of years that they would last. Architects today probably think of a maximum of a HALF-CENTURY. Building get demolished frequently. I never did understand why they blew up the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington. I was afraid that the Astrodome would suffer the same fate.

[PCfixit]

1st Baptisit moved to I-10 and N. Post Oak. There is a (maybe)20 story building there now...Howell Oil?

I too went to 1st Baptisit Church downtown with my Grandma (loved riding the Bus, those diesel fumes were like a narcotic)

Here is a link I was just looking at two days ago

http://www.houstonsfirst.org/home.html

Look for the Photo Album towards the bottom left

Edited December 1, 2005 by PCfixit

[57Tbird]

PC... thanks for the HFBC url! I really liked those old photos. Sorry the 30's and 40's weren't in there. I did see my uncle's picture several places in the 20's pix. I don't think some of those 20's pictures outside the church were taken at the Lamar location though. The church had no ornate stone doorways/exterior as shown. My parents and I are probably somewhere in the back of the congregation shown in the 1950 pictures. I'll have to check with my siblings to see if they have some 30's-'40s photos we can donate to the HFBC history album.

[Subdude]

More First Baptist on Lamar

[Ashikaga]

More First Baptist on Lamar

Where are you in that choir photo?

[roym]

I too went to 1st Baptisit Church downtown with my Grandma (loved riding the Bus, those diesel fumes were like a narcotic)

Here is a link I was just looking at two days ago

http://www.houstonsfirst.org/home.html

Look for the Photo Album towards the bottom left

Wow, they have some great photos in their gallery. If you mouse over the photos, they are dated and captioned.

They very last photo is an aerial view of it in 1970. You can also zoom in on the photos.

[Ashikaga]

In a previous thread, Heights2Bastrop suggested this as a new category for the forum. I'll start it as a new topic and see what develops. There have been many photos of old Houston posted elsewhere in this forum, especially by Subdude, which have been great and have brought back many pleasant memories for me.

Here are some photos of an old building that I remember from my early childhood. I saw this building every Sunday, when we went to church, and never forgot the small mural above the door. It was built in 1928 and demolished about 1946. What a shame it only had a life of 18 years. Do any of you old-timers or historians know what replaced it?

Note the policeman on horseback

Front door

Lobby

It's a shame if this place no longer exists. It looks like it took a lot of time, labor, and money to build it. I wonder if there are currently any buildings in Houston, still standing, that were constructed back in the 1800s?

[J. C. Tyler III]

I don't have any photos, but does anyone remember (or have photos) of the Foleys Downtown windows at Christmas time? Back in the 60s they had scenes with moving figures in their windows during December. We used to take a special drive downtown on a Sunday in December to look at their windows. This was probably mid 60s, I'm guessing around 1965, 1966, when I was around 5 or 6. Don't know when they started or when it ended.

In the early to late 50's, I would ride a bus downtown with my Aunt and look at the Christmas windows at Foley's. This was usually part of a trip downtown that included gawking in the windows of the Houston Chronicle to see the printing presses and a .25 cent haircut at the Barber College.

[Croberts]

I don't have any photos, but does anyone remember (or have photos) of the Foleys Downtown windows at Christmas time? Back in the 60s they had scenes with moving figures in their windows during December. We used to take a special drive downtown on a Sunday in December to look at their windows. This was probably mid 60s, I'm guessing around 1965, 1966, when I was around 5 or 6. Don't know when they started or when it ended.

My grandmother worked in the china dept. of foleys, possibly from some time in the early 1940s till 1965. We used to go to the christmas display every year in the 1950s and 60s. I remember being amazed by the sparkly material on the sidewalks, and the animated displays that were all around the building. It is one of my strongest memories of Christmas in my childhood.

[enviromain]

Houston 1909

[Littleblackcar]

I'm new here and I need some help. 

Does anyone recognize this building (sorry, I can't get a better picture)?  It stood at the corner of Main at Lamar, across Lamar from the Lamar Hotel/Metropolitan Theater (which you can see in the background).  I could swear I've seen pictures of it before but now that I need them, I can't find any.  I might have conflated it with another building but the Moorish detail over the door is so distinctive that I don't think so. 

The picture was taken no later than 1934--Douglas Fairbanks' name is on the theater marquee in the full print, and his last movie came out in 1934.  The cars in the image are all pre-1935, too (no shield grilles).

Edit: Looks like it could either be 509 Main Street or 407 Main Street.

[Bess Collector]

That is San Jacinto National Bank.

[Bob Fretz]

Yes, it's the San Jacinto National Bank Building that was torn down for the Foley's Department Store.

[sevfiv]

What a great picture - and the Fretz namesake!!