- City Designates 5 New Historical Landmarks, Including Downtown’s Hermann Estate Building [Prime Property]
- The Offices at Grandway West Under Construction in Katy Land Second Tenant; Now 52% Pre-Leased [Prime Property]
- New York’s EYP Buys Houston’s WHR Architects [Houston Business Journal]
- UH President Envisions Building ‘Community-Based’ Medical School [University of Houston]
- Houston Ranked No. 5 National Market for Luxury Home Sales Topping $1M So Far This Year [Houston Business Journal]
- 6 Home Remodels and Rebuilds That Defy Houston’s Teardown Craze [Culturemap]
- Boulevard Coffee, the Heights Coffee House Previously Known as Waldo’s Coffee, Has Closed [Eater Houston; previously on Swamplot]
- Washington-Based Mod Pizza Moving into Houston with Vintage Marketplace Location in October, Tuscany Square on San Felipe December, Pearland and Energy Corridor To Follow [Houston Business Journal]
- Little Bigs Closing Little 2703 Montrose Location After October 26, Opening in Bigger Former Chelsea Grill Spot on Halloween [Food Chronicles]
- Number of ‘Incidents’ Reported on Area Freeways Jumped to Record High of 2,101 in September [The Highwayman]
- City Council Expands Smoking Ban To Houston’s 3 Public Pedestrian Plazas [Houston Politics]
- Fans Camped Out Overnight for Opening of Rebuilt Chick-fil-A at South Mason Near I-10 This Morning [Covering Katy]
- The 7 Most Popular Architectural Visualization Styles [Architizer]
Photo of 2759 Battleground Rd., Deer Park: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
“I used to groan and grouch about Houston’s ugly sprawl and wished that the city would be more like its culturally and aesthetically superior East and West Coast brethren. But with all the recent growth, I have come to realize that Houston is really a blank canvas, despite being home to over 6 million people and sprawling out for 30-40 miles in every direction. NY, Boston and San Fran are what they are. They will have to spend more energy just on maintaining quality of life and do not have much of an opportunity to become something new and better. But in Houston, the next ten years will be transformational. While there are never any guarantees in a city that is subject to the boom and bust cycles of the oil industry, I would take living in Houston over any other great US metropolis just for the chance to see the transformation take place.” [
“If an out-of-towner wanted to make fun of Houston, there are a multitude of easier targets than the Rothko Chapel. Just the drive in from the airport on I-45 will give any out-of-towner loads of risible material.” [
Exploring the Menil’s quiet, deep-purple monument, the Chronicle‘s Leah Binkovitz turns up a couple new lines of investigation: “In a turn Rothko, with his proscriptions for proper viewing, could never have anticipated, the chapel has its own Yelp page. ‘Whatever, some people don’t like to think too much about life and what our place is and if you’re one of those people, this isn’t the place for you,’ writes Eric J. in his recent review, ‘You need to head on down to Moody Gardens for “Pirates” or whatever.’ Inside, there’s a collection of Rothko paintings — dark and turbid — that surround the viewer. When the sun sifting through the clerestory shifts, the purple panels shine like scars. People meditate on cushions on the ground or lean against each other on the benches. The occasional crinkle of a plastic bag breaks the silence. 
