Swamplot Archives by Category: Neighborhoods: Eastwood

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Monday, March 1, 2010

Comment of the Day: The Soccer Stadium at Finger Furniture

March 1, 2010 – 2:01 pm
   

“Am I crazy to ask the question why this site would not be an easier solution for the Dynamo’s stadium? It’s right on 45 South, has much better ingress/egress than the east end site, with dedicated exits going north and south, very close to downtown. . . . Looking closer, too, it makes for easy alternative use(s) for the stadium (which means TSU can have even more convenient use of the facilities with their campus not 2 miles away), near Hobby Airport for sports fan travelers/reporters/etc., and doesn’t take a ton of money to make the site possible since it already has a vast parking lot, utilities, (albeit obnoxious) pylon freeway sign. Knowing the Fingers family, they would take the call, and be happy to trade the site for another from the city for future development. Yahtzee!” [JG, commenting on A Whole New Ball Game: Fingers Back and Open for Business]

2:01 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Comments, Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Quicklink, Retail
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Friday, February 26, 2010

A Whole New Ball Game: Fingers Back and Open for Business

February 26, 2010 – 11:49 pm

Almost a year after shutting down all its operations, Finger Furniture — or at least another company using the same name and run by the same family — is open again. Owner Rodney Finger is claiming the newly renovated 600,000-sq.-ft. facility at 4001 Gulf Fwy. at Cullen near Eastwood is now the biggest furniture store in Texas. And that’ll likely be true for a bit longer — until the warehouse portion of that million-sq.-ft. Rooms To Go on I-10 past Katy opens in another month or so.

But at 200,000 sq. ft., Finger’s showroom is 5 times the size of the one at Rooms To Go. And then there’s that museum inside:

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11:49 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Houston History, Museums, Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Openings and Closings, Retail
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Eastwood Tree Fort

January 13, 2010 – 4:03 pm

Listed for $244,987: This open-air treehouse in Eastwood. Comes with 1,751-sq.-ft. 3-4 bedroom house.

4:03 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Eastwood
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

What About Bob?

November 17, 2009 – 4:14 pm
   

Dana Jennings reports from Eastwood, 2 blocks west of Lockwood, “where the light rail project is in high jackhammer mode.”: “Bob Street would be a good place to live. It’s short, like the name. Starts at Harrisburg and dead-ends into Garrow Street near the meandering, tree-lined Harrisburg hike and bike trail. Bob St. is just two short blocks lined with single story bungalows and front porches. Most need love and repair. . . . Talked to a young man, drinking coffee on his front steps, enjoying the morning mist. He was making sure I wasn’t up to no good. . . . Quiet little street with its own version of neighborhood watch, and with artists in the night, spraypainting dragons at the corner. Curiously, all homes face the street at a slight 15? degree angle. Lining up the porches to salute the rising sun? Wonder what the trendmaker builder of the time was thinking, back in 1910?” [The Next San Miguel de Allende]

4:14 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Quicklink, Streets, Transportation
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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Just About Time in Eastwood: Great Moments in Houston Clock Rescue and Storage

October 1, 2009 – 9:36 pm

Eastwood clock-watcher Spencer Howard documents the end of the line for the 1935 Sterling Laundry & Cleaning Company building on Harrisburg. Metro doesn’t have any use for the bulk of the Streamline Moderne building in the way of the new light-rail East End Line. But how about grabbing that right-twice-a-day timepiece the building is wearing? The bulky fashion accessory might go with any of several new get-ups envisioned for Eastwood Park across the street.

METRO began the disassembly of the building last week. After several days of careful planning, joints were sawed into the steel frame, stucco clad facade. By the end of the week, a large crane was delivered to the site to assist with the removal of the facade.

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9:36 pm | 7 Comments | Read more about Adaptive Reuse, Art, Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Parks, Public Art
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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Saving Time on the East End Line: Sterling Laundry and Long-Term Storage

September 2, 2009 – 2:48 pm

All that uproar over the impending demolition of a favorite Streamline Moderne structure in Eastwood seems to have had an effect: Houston architect Sol R. Slaughter’s 1935 Sterling Laundry & Cleaning Company building at 4819 Harrisburg will be preserved!

Sort of. Metro has committed to saving the façade.

Well . . . maybe at least the center part of it.

Okay really, just the top part, above the door. The part with the clock.

Hey, at least it’s not going to go away!

. . . ?

Uh, well . . . architectural antique fan Spencer Howard, who helped sound the alarm about Metro’s demolition plans for the building a few weeks ago, writes in with the latest:

Deconstruction will begin in two weeks, at which point the façade will be placed in storage (yet to be located) until the permanent home is designed (yet to be funded).

But the face-saving fun doesn’t stop there. After a short but brilliant week of investigations, brainstorming, and Photoshop work, Metro has produced a series of proposals for the rescued stretch of stucco that’s likely to be studied and appreciated by historic preservation experts, redevelopment advocates, and postmodern philosophers for some time to come.

Monday’s presentation at the offices of the Greater East End Management District was simply titled “4819 Harrisburg,” but that’s just Metro being modest. Maybe when this thing is resurrected for academic conferences it can be called something like “Representations of Time: Practical Opportunities in Deconstruction and Preservation.”

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2:48 pm | 18 Comments | Read more about Adaptive Reuse, Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Parks, Public Art, Transportation
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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Art Deco Slaughter on Harrisburg: Is Metro Taking To the Cleaners?

August 20, 2009 – 10:46 am

This timely building at 4819 Harrisburg in Eastwood, built in 1935 for the Sterling Laundry & Cleaning Co., showed up in yesterday’s Daily Demolition Report. The architect was Sol R. Slaughter, who also designed a home on the bayou in Idylwood the same year.

The building faces Metro’s new East End Corridor light-rail line. Rice University project manager Spencer Howard writes in with a few details, but isn’t exactly sure what’s going on:

The building was renovated as an artist live/work/gallery just a few years ago.

METRO pledged to save the facade of the building with the clock on it, across from Eastwood Park. They preferred to have someone else buy it and move it, but if that didn’t happen, they were going to move it back on the property and reattach it behind the new setback. Yesterday they sent out the demolition list for next Monday and it was on it. The neighborhood has alerted their gov’t reps.

Another view:

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10:46 am | 11 Comments | Read more about Adaptive Reuse, Art, Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Public Art, Transportation
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Monday, April 20, 2009

Metro Coming Attractions: Previewing Houston’s New Light Rail Lines

April 20, 2009 – 7:55 am

Here’s a whizzy reel showing what the new Metro trains and stations on 4 upcoming light-rail lines are supposed to look like. Dowling St. in the Third Ward, the Edloe Station in Greenway Plaza, the Moody Park Station on the North Line, MacGregor Park Station on the Southeast Line, and Lockwood Station on the East End Line each get about 30 seconds of CGI treatment, from a low-flying camera buzzing some extremely lifelike — though torpid — pedestrians.

Christof Spieler finds a few flaws:

The Third Ward footage seems to be out-of-date; it shows the old alignment crossing Dowling on Wheeler, not the new route that switches to Alabama. But other details are correct: the stations shown are the new prototype station design (by Rey de la Reza Architects), minus artwork.

It’s nice to be able to visualize what these lines might look like. But it’s also a reminder that it’s important to get the details right. At Edloe, for example, the trees integrated into the canopy are nice, but there’s no crosswalk at the west end of the station platform, which means a 500-foot detour for some riders. The Moody Park and MacGregor stations do show that crosswalk, and the sidewalks look pretty good, too. But in all the images, the overhead wires are suspended from their own poles in the middle of the street, not from the streetlight poles on either side, as on Main Street. That makes for more poles and a more cluttered streetscape.

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7:55 am | 27 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, Neighborhoods: MacGregor Park, Neighborhoods: Moody Park, Neighborhoods: Third Ward, Proposed Developments, Transportation
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Where To Put Magnolia Glen

July 22, 2008 – 3:42 pm
   

If the city will cough up $4 million, developers will turn a former temporary UH dorm next to Fingers furniture on the north side of the Gulf Freeway into a 220-unit housing project for Houstonians who are currently homeless. Mayor White supports the Magnolia Glen project, but district councilman James Rodriguez and some residents of nearby Eastwood don’t like the location. “Former Councilman Gordon Quan, a member of the blue-ribbon commission, said . . . money helps determine where sites can be found. ‘People say, “Why don’t you put this in River Oaks or Memorial?” We couldn’t afford the land in River Oaks. But we are cognizant that these need to be spread around,’ he said.” [Houston Chronicle]

3:42 pm | 5 Comments | Read more about Apartments, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Renovations, Temporary Housing
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