HOUSTON CLUB BUILDING WILL BE DEMOLISHED, SAY AUCTIONEERS 
Going, going . . . gone?: The company auctioning off the contents of the Houston Club ahead of its move to the 49th floor of One Shell Plaza gleefully reports on its website that the Jesse Jones-era 18-story office building at 811 Rusk is “scheduled for demolition!†That’s more than Skanska, which owns the building, has officially announced, though the Swedish construction firm’s own website does note that “future redevelopment” is planned for the Downtown site. [Lewis & Maese via CultureMap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Silberman Properties
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Future development: A Brand New Shining Asphalt parking lot with LED light posts (leed certified!!). Lines painted Yellow too!
/Sarcasm ;)
Typical
Earlier this week a Chronicle article on the demolition mentioned a “David Addickes mural of Houston circa 1894” in the club that will likely be lost in the demolition.
Has anyone ever seen a picture of this before? That mural sounds amazing; somebody should at least get some high resolution photo of it before the building comes down.
Other than the parking garage, the Houston Club, and a couple of ground floor and tunnel tenants, that building has been very thinly populated for years.
Which begs the question – what ARE they going to do about the tunnel? That block is the convergence point for tunnel access from Chase Tower, Calpine, and a couple others.
The gentlemen at the garage say it will not be demolished with the Club building.
I think the general feeling on this one from historically/architecturally sensitive people like myself is that while it’s not the greatest building ever built in Houston, it’s a lot greater than what is on at least 100 of the blocks downtown.
This is where you get to the difference between Houston and a city like San Antonio, which still has a significant historical flavor in its downtown. Most historic buildings are not great, they’re average. If you only preserve the landmarks, most of your historic stock gets wiped out and you lose that historic dimension in your city. San Antonio does not allow its historic buildings to be torn down, and thus maintains a vibrant historical (and walkable) downtown core, while leaving plenty of room for new buildings. Houston started out with roughly as many early 20th century buildings as San Antonio had, it just didn’t preserve them.
Does anyone know if the garage will be remain open after the demolition? I have heard it will remain open from muliple Central Parking employees. How is this possible if the building is demolished? Any input would be greatly appreciated.