A HOUSTON BICYCLE MUSEUM ARRIVES IN THE MUSEUM DISTRICT 
The latest institution to roll into Houston’s Museum District is the Houston Bicycle Museum, which just leased the former bank building at 1313 Binz St. (shown at left) from the Holocaust Museum Houston, and is hoping volunteers will help it clean up the space and install exhibits. The structure is meant to house the organization’s collection of antique and classic bikes and related memorabilia. The Houston Bicycle Museum, run by Daniel Boone Cycles owner Joy Boone, has been fundraising to build a permanent home for itself near the corner of Crawford and Calumet streets — a few blocks away. Its new temporary location is one block south of the Holocaust museum and across Binz St. from the parking lot in front of the Park Plaza Hospital MRI facility. Photo: Houston Bicycle Museum
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Glad to see it finding a temporary home. I wish that block would get redeveloped, though. A year or two ago, I heard the Holocaust museum owned the block and was supposed to build a new museum there, but it doesn’t seem like that’s happening anytime soon. I guess once they convinced the city to close Calumet, they stopped promoting that plan? Perhaps Hines will use it as construction parking for their new tower?
Well here’s one museum that this goer won’t be frequenting. This lot is a disaster & needs to be developed. Holocuast Museum–as part of the deal to acquire Calumet–promised to make this into something nice. Putting some bikes into a dilapidated old building is not the answer.
A bicycle museum? I couldn’t find a more depressing and dull place to go visit. Well, perhaps a Used Denture Museum, or the Nail Clipper Gallery.
Oh yes, after taking in the Holocaust we all think of hitting a museum dedicated to……bikes. What next a museum for tri sickles and uni cycles on the otherside of the Holocaust Museum. This is a very ugly building, tear it down for a reflective garden or something. Does the Holocaust Musuem need money this badly. This just somehow feels inappropriate. Look, I Kyle bikes and a museum dedicated to them is fine, but maybe not…here.
“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.” – H. G. Wells
I respectfully salute to this endeavor–a bicycle museum in Houston. That’s almost like building a Jewish heritage museum in the middle of the Islamic caliphate.
The Holocaust Museum is actually doing the Bicycle Museum a huge favor by leasing (for next to nothing) this building, though it is not much to look at. It is a start for a start-up, grass roots 501-3C organization like the Bicycle Museum. It is not a museum that is associated with the Holocaust Museum (2 fer 1 tickets or whatever) but it keeps it in the same area as the other museums. I agree, that Bank Building is U G L Y, but tearing down a building in the city of Houston is expensive and requires a ton of permits and inspections, yada, yada… So, until the Holocaust group is ready to start construction on a new building, it makes financial sense to lease the building. Which is worse, another museum or a Insurance office?
I, perhaps the only one here, am stoked! The folks at Boone have been fundraising for years, and I’m so happy they have made this progress. All the rest of you haters can stay home and continue to do whatever is you do when not trying new things.
That’s great!
I’m looking forward to the clean up and opening of the space.
It can be a great place for cyclists to meet too!
Congrats.
I can’t believe it took so long–back in the early 90s it was the Park National Bank branch I used. I think they used it as a location for a WaMu commercial (but just for the commercial) sometime after it closed.
Joy has been quietly fundraising and networking to make this happen for years now. Along with opening a bike shop, this is part of her life long dream (along with a lot of faithful customers and supporters). She even owns a nearby parcel and has an architect’s rendering of a modern, beautiful building – but needs the rental space to get the project off the ground.
She also has been collecting rare and vintage bicycles for years, scouring the world for valuable bikes that show the evolution of this invention over time. Some of these are already on display in her store.
This museum will be appreciated by a small segment of the population (just like the Weather Museum and the Czech heritage center a few blocks from here). It is a nice addition to the cultural heritage of Houston, an educational resource for those interested in early mechanical design, and one more place for people to check out when they visit, or on a random Saturday.
Of course, the haters on Swamplot have to be all mean and make snide comments. Just realize that you are being mean. Hopefully mean people like you won’t visit this place, anyway.
Ha ha! A museum to bicycler’s in the middle of the Museum District, the most pedestrian hostile area in the City. When Calumet was closed, Holocaust commited to a pedestrian plaza …guess they’re paying the City for Calumet by “commemorating” pedestrians. RIch irony.
I hope Boone keeps this building looking better than her shop and the current “bicycle museum” spot. Not to mention all the other nasty lots she owns in the area. Clean them up and keep them clean.