Menil

Featured Posts
02/07/17 4:15pm

Richmont Square Holdouts Now Crumbling Away Before the Excavator

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Menil
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Demoltion of Richmont Square Apartments, 1400 Richmond Ave., Menil, Houston, 77006

The remaining segments of the Richmont Square apartments are on their way down — a reader sends a few shots this morning capturing the current state of the disunion. The demo permits for the then-remaining 2 thirds of the storied 1960s apartment complex have been trickling in since December, with a few more issued late last week; the associated flattening work on the Menil-owned property started late last year as well. The view from the Richmond Ave. parking lot and former entryway shows the empty space formerly occupied by the complex’s main entrance:

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Clearing Rooms on Richmond Ave.
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Featured Posts
01/27/17 5:30pm

Architects Now Hanging Out Behind 2 Layers of Leafy Cover on W. Alabama St.

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Menil
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Dillon Kyle Architecture office, 1500 W. Alabama St., Menil, Houston, 77006

Dillon Kyle Architects’s new dramatically cantilevered headquarters at 1500 West Alabama at the corner with Mulberry St. is now largely enveloped by the leafy wooden screens mentioned in the firm’s announcement of the building early last year. The company moved into the space in December, around the time work crews wrapped up most of the cherry-picker-assisted installation of the paneling (shown below):

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Both Made of Trees
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Featured Posts
08/22/16 11:30am

Doomed Richmont Square Apartments Now Accessorizing Before Going Out

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Menil, Menil Collection, Montrose, Proposed Developments
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Richmont Square apartments, 1400 Richmond Ave., Montrose, Houston, 77006

Richmont Square apartments, 1400 Richmond Ave., Montrose, Houston, 77006The remaining 2 thirds of the vacant Richmont Square complex are getting a few exterior decorating touches, a reader notes — among the increasingly wild parking lot median strips, many of the trees lining the Richmond-facing parking lot are sporting some new ribbons as of last week. The complex’s final tenants received an early-spring everybody-out notice, with the promise of demolition left hanging some time after the now-past May 1 move-out deadline.

What’s planned next for the space, once the last of the late-1960s apartment buildings are cleared out? Some clues come from the campus master plan map released in the Menil Collection’s 2014 annual report — 2 separate blocks south of the under-construction Drawing Institute are depicted where Richmont Square’s leftovers still stand, respectively hosting a wiggly-trailed park and a pale blue rectangle labeled for “future mixed-use” development:

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Menil Collection Curation
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Featured Posts
07/18/16 2:45pm

The Menil Drawing Institute’s Paper-to-Solid Transition

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Menil, Menil Collection
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Menil Drawing Institute construction, July 2016

Proposed Menil Drawing Institute by Johnston Marklee, West Main St., Montrose, HoustonReader and mixed-media picture-maker Bob Russell sends along an update to his previous shots of the site of the Menil Drawing Institute, now preliminarily sketched into place in broad steel strokes. The framework shown at the top appears to be outlining that western interior courtyard that showed up in Johnston Marklee’s previous renderings of the building, which is going up where the now-level back third of the Richmont Square apartment complex once stood.

The Menil says construction should wrap up some time next year. Here’s a few more angles on all the angles already in place:

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Refining the Line Work
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Churches
02/12/16 10:00am

Rothko Chapel Lighting Could Get Redone with Funds from Online Clothing Auction

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Menil, Montrose, Parks, Proposed Developments, Public Art, Quicklink
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ROTHKO CHAPEL LIGHTING COULD GET REDONE WITH FUNDS FROM ONLINE CLOTHING AUCTION Rothko Chapel, 3900 Yupon St., Montrose, Houston, 77006Reworking the Rothko Chapel’s lighting scheme is high on the wishlist of things to fund with proceeds from an online auction opening this Monday, David Leslie tells Cara Smith of the HBJ. While no specific plans to modify the space are set yet, the chapel’s executive director hopes changes over the next few years will help with “presenting the chapel in a holistic way that’s inviting, regardless of the day, time or lighting” — though Leslie also reflects that “the mystery of the chapel is that it does change with the light throughout the day, and it’s not static.” The auction is the brainchild of international socialite and chapel board member Lynn Wyatt, who will be putting some of her own high-end couture and art prints on the docket, alongside contributions from a few friends (including Wes Anderson, Elton John, and Tilda Swinton). Other items on the 1971 chapel’s maybe-to-do list: visitors services infrastructure for its 90,000-plus annual pilgrims, conference space, and some pool maintenance. [HBJ] Photo of the Rothko Chapel: Brandi Lynn via Swamplot Flickr pool

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Apartments
02/01/16 2:45pm

The Rest of Richmont Square Prepares to Get Leveled

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Demolitions, Menil, Proposed Developments, Quicklink
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THE REST OF RICHMONT SQUARE PREPARES TO GET LEVELED Richmont Square Apartments, 1400 Richmond Ave., HoustonResidents of the Richmont Square apartments learned today that they have until May 1 to get out of the way of the bulldozers, writes Erin Mulvaney of the Houston Chronicle. The apartments, which are owned by the Menil Foundation, will be brushed away to make room for upcoming phases of the Menil’s unfolding master plan, announced back in 2009. The back third of the 1960s complex facing Richmond Ave was demolished at the start of 2015  to free up space for an extension of W. Main St.; the Menil’s new Drawing Institute is currently being penciled in to the north of the remaining apartments. Richmont Square’s leasing office began to offer only month-to-month contracts by early January, though a set date for the eventual teardown had not been made public at the time. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: John Ronald via Flickr

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Featured Posts
07/16/15 2:00pm

Key Maps Store Isn’t Shutting Down, but It Is Leaving Its Longtime Home in 493S

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Menil, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail
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Key Maps Store, 1411 W. Alabama St., Montrose, Houston

Key Maps Store, 1411 W. Alabama St., Montrose, HoustonYou have until tomorrow, maybe, to grab some of the cartographic treasures remaining at the longtime Inner Loop home of Key Maps, Houston’s homegrown map company. Items you buy will be 70 percent off — or free if you fish them from the yellow Dumpster parked out front at 1411 W. Alabama. But it’s a pretty chaotic scene, a reader tells us: Framed wall-maps, Key Map books that used to be found in the back seat pocket of most Houston cars, and other items are being loaded into moving trucks in preparation for a relocation to a new storefront at 5622 Richmond Ave., on the north side of the strip near Chimney Rock.

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Which Way from West Alabama
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Development Regulations
05/13/15 3:45pm

Menil Collection Wins Special Approval from City of Houston To Pave Less

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Menil, Montrose, Parking, Quicklink
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MENIL COLLECTION WINS SPECIAL APPROVAL FROM CITY OF HOUSTON TO PAVE LESS Planned Changes to Menil Collection, Showing Boundaries of Special Parking Area, Montrose, HoustonWith the approval granted by city council today, the 30-acre campus surrounding the Menil Collection now qualifies as Houston’s first-ever special parking area. The new status will allow the Menil to provide just 1.8 spaces per 1,000 sq. ft. of gallery, bookstore, and classroom space within the district, rather than the 3 per 1,000 sq. ft. normally required under city ordinances. The rules would apply on the blocks bounded by W. Alabama, Mandell, Richmond, and Yupon and Graustark. A plan delineating these boundaries included in a parking study conducted for the Menil (above) shows — among other additions provided for in the institution’s new master plan — a new park on the middle portion of the site of the Richmont Square Apartments, immediately south of the Menil Drawing Institute, now under construction along an eastward extension of W. Main St. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Plan: Lockwood, Andrews, and Newnam (PDF) 

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Featured Posts
02/19/14 1:15pm

Here Is Johnston Marklee’s Light and Dark Design for the Menil Drawing Institute

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Menil, Menil Collection, Montrose, Museums, Proposed Developments
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Proposed Menil Drawing Institute by Johnston Marklee, West Main St., Montrose, Houston

The Menil Collection released details of the low-slung design L.A. architects Johnston Marklee have put together for the new Menil Drawing Institute, which is being touted as the “first freestanding facility in the United States created especially for the exhibition, study, storage, and conservation of modern and contemporary drawings.” And staring at the renderings, the institute’s future sure looks bright. There’s the bright exterior walls, lit by the Houston sun; the white steel-plate roof that’s supposed to look like it’s hovering over the building and 2 surrounding courtyards — “rather like a folded sheet of paper,” in the architects’ words. But the inside of the building, where the drawings are displayed, it’s going to be dark.

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A New Menil, Facing West Main St.
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Institutional Buildings
11/04/13 11:30am

Menil Drawing New Drawing Institute onto ‘Back Third’ of Richmont Square

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Menil, Menil Collection, Montrose, Museums, Proposed Developments
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The new Menil Drawing Institute building, being designed by LA architects Johnston Marklee (winners of last year’s competition), will sit on land currently occupied by the Menil’s Richmont Square apartment building. The arts institution doesn’t have plans to tear down the entire apartment complex, however: Drawings submitted to the planning commission as part of a variance application show only the northernmost bank — at the back of the site — wiped clean.

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Art
06/11/12 12:04pm

Sicardi Gallery Steps Up to West Alabama

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Houston Architects, Menil, Openings and Closings
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Brave Architecture’s new Sicardi Gallery across from the Menil parking lot is “pretty amazing,” declares Glasstire art critic Kelly Klaasmeyer, who was there for Thursday’s opening opening. The 2-story 5,800-sq.-ft. stucco-and-steel structure is a big step up from the gallery’s small previous space next to the McClain Gallery on Richmond. That lone window on the second floor of the new building facing West Alabama is designated as a rear-projection screen for exhibited videos, but they’re not showing yet:

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Art
01/11/12 12:01pm

Sicardi Move Triggering Art Gallery Shuffle

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Mandell Place, Menil, Montrose, New Construction, Retail
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The Sicardi Gallery’s impending move to its new Brave Architecture building currently under construction at the corner of West Alabama and Mulberry in Montrose (above) should send a few ripples through the local gallery landscape, art blogger Robert Boyd notes. Headed for the current Sicardi Gallery space at 2246 Richmond (across the street from Blue Fish House and the Hobbit Cafe), according to Boyd’s sources, will be Thom Andriola’s New Gallery:

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Apartments
11/05/09 1:26pm

Replacing Richmont Square: The Low Cost, Bohemian Option

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Menil, Redevelopment, Renting
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Communications director Vance Muse tells the River Oaks Examiner‘s Michael Reed that the foundation’s board won’t replace the bargain-rent Richmont Square Apartments in a way that’ll change the character of the Menil campus:

“It’s on our mind that we could, in a low-key Menil way, build a (residential) property along Richmond Avenue,” he said.

Apartments at Richmont Square range from $650 for one-bedroom, one-bath units of 575 square feet to $955 for two-bedroom, two-bath units of 1,064 square feet. Deposits are between $250 and $300.

Asked about the possibility of the Menil plan including dwellings that are priced similarly to what would be replaced, Muse said specifics have not been discussed yet.

“We’d like to keep it bohemian, if at all possible,” he said. “There has always been a commitment (by Menil) to offering a break.”

Photo of Richmont Square parking lot, 1400 Richmond Ave.: River Oaks Examiner

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Adaptive Reuse
10/08/09 5:42pm

Comment of the Day: Before Richmond Hall Went Light and Quiet

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Art, Comments, Houston History, Menil, Nightlife, Quicklink
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COMMENT OF THE DAY: BEFORE RICHMOND HALL WENT LIGHT AND QUIET “. . . The building was the original Weingartens grocery store. Then in the 1960’s /1970’s it was the Texas Opry House. Then in the early 1980’s it was the Parade Disco (yes,the Parade Disco of New Orleans Bourbon Street, fame or infamy, depending on how one looks at it). The place rocked . . . Monday nights was punk rock night and it was real punk, not the poseur “punk”. But Friday & Saturday nights was gay disco. Some of the best music ever. Then the Menil converted it into [Richmond Hall] . . . it houses Dan Flavins awesome light sculpture.“ [Tim, commenting on Chipperfield Sculpts the New Menil: Goodbye, Richmont Square]

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