If you’re the ghost of Kenneth Franzheim, scoot! Again. Cameraphone correspondent Pankaj reports that Cherry Demolition is already at work dismantling a second building designed by the Houston architect: the original Downtown YMCA at 1600 Louisiana St. Workers from the demo company have begun removing windows from the 10-story brick building; the property is now partially fenced. In 2008, as it announced plans to construct the new Tellepsen Y a few blocks to the east, the organization said it would tear down the 1941 structure in advance of selling the 85,000-sq.-ft. lot beneath it to Chevron, owners of the Enron hand-me-down tower next door.
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Not included in the new and smaller Tellepsen Y, which opened last fall: replacements for 132 apartments in the older building. The Louisiana St. building was damaged by a small fire a year ago.
- YMCA eaten alive [Is This Houston?]
- Previously on Swamplot: Early Exit: The Fire at the Downtown Y, Downtown YMCA To Self-Destruct, Finally, A Peek Inside the New Downtown Sweatbox
Photos: Pankaj (top 2) and bilbao58 (with Chevron tower)
Young man, there’s no place you can go…
Hopefully not another parking lot -_-
Meh.. this place has been coming down for weeks.. they’ve had the windows out for a while now.. Just waiting for the final “implosion” or are they going to take a sledgehammer to the thing.. Seems too small to use anything over the top.
It’ll probably be a parking lot for at least a little while..
given the crowd i’ve nearly been accosted by in there, i think that headline should read “GOING down.”
Per Cherry Demolition, they will be tearing the YMCA down, using an excavator and beginning on or around April 25th and they expect to take about 2 months. Bummer, no implosion.
Sad. I think this building is beautiful-love the clean lines. Anyway, didn’t Clark Gable live there?
Once again the hypocrisy of “historic preservation” rears its ugly little head.
I still preferred working out there instead of the new one.
I heard that too, Mel.
Wikipedia has Gable working in Houston 1927-28.