Online arts publication Glasstire is reporting that Rice University’s public-affairs office has confirmed plans to demolish the University’s most famous metal-sided structure. Known since the mid-1980s as the School of Continuing Studies Speros P. Martel Building, the southern half of the 45-year-old duo was dubbed the “Art Barn,” and was originally home to the Rice Museum, a predecessor to the Menil Collection.
John and Dominique de Menil paid for the construction of both corrugated buildings in 1969, and selected the architects, Howard Barnstone and Eugene Aubry. The structures were created to house Rice’s art and art history departments, along with the de Menils’ Institute for the Arts, which the couple moved from the University of St. Thomas after a dispute with that institution. The de Menils later left Rice to start their own little Menil Collection in Montrose. The simple, unassuming design of the structures they left behind became the inspiration and model for a series of “Tin Houses” —Â Galvalume-clad homes designed by Houston architects primarily in the West End and Rice Military area.
A longtime Swamplot reader brings up the ‘H’ word: “I know Houston isn’t big on preserving many things, but I was wondering if you or your other readers knew of a good resource where I could possibly do some ‘historical’ research on my home? I must admit that I am jealous of homes on the East Coast that have a legacy of some sort. I am aware that something like this wouldn’t exist on my property, but I’d like to see if I could find older pictures of it and/or see how the area was like ‘back in the day.’ My home was built in 1923 according to HCAD, so there MUST be something out there . . . right?” Photo of 506 Cottage St., Brooke Smith: 
The Astrodome’s future may have taken a hit in Tuesday’s bond vote, but the building’s past has never looked brighter. The Dome, in all its historical splendor, will now head to the silver screen. Filmmakers Chip Rives and David Karabinas succeeded in reaching their $65,000 goal with their Kickstarter effort to fund additional filming and finishing work on The Dome Movie, a cinematic tribute to Houston’s once-astonishing ambitions and the building that made them apparent to the world. 
For an article slipped online only after election-day voting had already begun on the ill-fated $217 million bond issue that would have turned the Houston landmark into a convention center, L.A. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne decides a few things need to be said about the Astrodome. Some highlights: “
“It can be the Symbol of the City, and it can be torn down. This is Houston, where those two ideas are not opposed to one another.” [
“People do not want to save the Astrodome because it is a landmark of National / Worldwide significance. People want to save the Astrodome because it is just about all we have in Houston in terms of somewhat significant landmarks. Blowing up the Astrodome is a concession that we never do anything of any lasting significance in Houston. We are just a very fancy tent city set up to house the oil industry as long as they need us. But, once Elon Musk has us zipping around in pneumatic tubes instead of internal combustion engine vehicles, Houston will just empty out and be forgotten. Keeping the Astrodome is an attempt to make Houston feel permanent and not a temporary boomtown precariously tied to the fate of one sector of the economy.” [
“I understand that many people in Houston and Harris County have fond childhood memories of attending games in the Astrodome with their families. I too have memories of watching Astros games there, and frankly, I liked the ‘Dome better than Minute Maid Park. That said, no one from out of town EVER has asked me about the Astodome when I tell them I am from Houston. Not a single visitor that I’ve hosted here has EVER asked me to drive them by the Astrodome. The nation, and the world, just aren’t all that interested in a 40+ year old sports venue.” [
The 
“Yes, it was a sad day. I’ll have a hard time driving down 14th street from now on. I shed a few tears seeing it 
