- Wulfe & Co. Breaks Ground on Retail-Office Project in The Woodlands [Houston Chronicle]
- Heitman Affiliate Acquires 17 Buildings Nationwide, Including Medical Office Properties in Sugar Land, Katy [HBJ]
- Rice Village Shake Shack Officially Opening Feb. 28 [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- Aldi Opening New Store Today on West Rd. Just off North Fwy. [Houston Chronicle]
- Restaurant Fig & Olive Opening in Former Saks Fifth Avenue Space at The Galleria Next Month [HBJ; previously on Swamplot]
- Several Houston Private Schools in the Midst of Expansion [HBJ ($)]
- City Council Now Set to Vote on New Floodplain Regulations on March 21 [Houston Public Media]
- What Houston Could Learn from the Virgin Islands About Hurricane Recovery [Houston Public Media]
- Reddit Approaching Consensus on the ‘Ugliest Building in Houston’Â [Click2Houston; Reddit]
- How Cities Search for People the Census May Miss [New York Times]
Photo of Local Foods at Heights Mercantile: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
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Regarding the census story. I didn’t take part just to see what methods would be employed on those that don’t. After multiple visits to the door I finally got a hand written notice in English and Spanish saying I was violating the law and could face jail time.
Oh, and as far as the ugliest building in Houston I nominate the “Death Star”
RE: Ugliest Building… OK i get it, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but those stairs… What is with all those stairs and for who are they intended for?!?!?!
RE: ugliest building. It looks like something Donald Trump would build! Am I doing this right?
For ugliest building I’ve always had a particular distate for that old ugly windowless condo tower on south side of uptown. Lots of terrible 70/80 mid-rises around the city. Even the worst of them like the darque tan building still manage to blend in discretely.
The Texan building on 610W? I dont like the windowless condo either, but understand their was another tower planed, and that was they didnt want windows.
RE: ugliest building. The Mesa, circa 1985, postmodern by Architectonica – The same firm that designed the palm tree condo in the opening scenes of Miami Vice.
If you take it out of that context, then yes, I can perceive the uneducated will consider it ugly compared to the other strip mall architecture surrounding the building.
Isn’t Ugliest Building a Swampie category?
I like the ugliest building. It reminds me of the 1980s, when it was OK to park in front of a business. Also parachute pants.
oh wow those arquitectonica guys are also responsible for these townhomes ive driven by in montrose:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/-lztbx3Ffijw/Ummk_fazLXI/AAAAAAAAan0/nFqUbDZaxmo/tumblr_ms6aziMhCi1rd2b09o5_1280_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
@ J: I was an enumerator in the last census. In cases like yours we just went next door and asked your neighbors about you. In the neighborhoods where I worked, the pastor of a neighborhood church and one really knowledgable prostitute proved invaluable at identifying not only nonrespondents but also people that lived in nonresidential structures that had never received survey forms in the first place. It was actually a really interesting job and I encourage anybody that is able to apply for a Census job in 2020 to not miss out on the opportunity — especially if you live in central Houston. It’ll get you out of whichever social bubble you ordinarily occupy.
Thanks Niche, it was an experiment. Hope my neighbors did me proud. For the record, I only grow tomatoes and I always vote straight Democrat.
Niche-please provide more details. I’d like to know more about “enumerators”. If my kids happened to be playing outside could they provide useful info.? I’m sure there is a protocol.
Actually yes, kids could provide information and the enumerators would take it. If it was against policy, none of us knew, and nobody followed up on it.
Re: Ugliest buildings
Like everything else, architecture goes through cycles of popularity. Twenty five years ago there were few defenders of MCM buildings, which were almost universally derided as soulless and ugly.
I like the Darque Tan building, and the Post Modern townhouses on Hadden St and McDuffie and the Federal Reserve on Allen Parkway. I’m acutely aware that I’m in the minority in my opinion. but give it a few years and a new generation will fall in love with Post Modern architecture all over again.
The one exception (and my nomination for the Ugliest Building) is Heritage Plaza, which is a blot on downtown Houston’s skyline. That Aztec (?) pyramid atop a slab-sided behemoth looked silly the day it was constructed. It looks silly now. It will look silly until that building outlives its usefulness and is mercifully demolished.
Interesting. Thanks for the info Niche. The neighbors, the kids and I will have our stories straight for the next one.
J, if you’d ever done any genealogy, you’d know that the past censuses are available to the public 72 years after the date of the census, and that the enumerator got information on families from whoever was available — the head of household, a spouse, a child, a neighbor, a neighbor’s child… So spellings and first-middle ordering and ages are frequently variable from decade to decade.