A reader shows us a few through-the-fence glimpses of the massive demolition project that now appears to be taking place on the Shell Oil Company’s Woodcreek campus, just south of the Addicks Dam: 7 connected triangular 5-story office buildings and a separate cafeteria structure on the west side of the campus at 200 N. Dairy Ashford are all on the crushing block, according to a demo permit filed a couple of weeks after Harvey hit.
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- Previously on Swamplot:Â Shell’s Downtown Operations To Shed Offices, Scurry Over To Larger West Houston Campuses
Photos: Swamplot inbox
Energy Corridor Clearance
Bittersweet for me… I spent many years there in my early career days with Shell. I will never forget, though, the one office that stunk like shit… a raccoon had made its way into the A/C duct system and decided to take a dump in a co-worker’s office vent. It got so bad, no one would ever visit the poor guy. He tried to mask it with cologne, and boy, he made it worse.
I’ll give a pass to the mice since they were cute, but not the rats and snakes. That building was so badly constructed, gaps as big as your leg in some places, but just gaps everywhere. Many people did not notice, but I became friends with the electricians, and maintenance employees who would not only tell me, but tell me where to look.
I’ll never forget one of the electricians was in a co-workers office, he was pulling wires and struggling, she was at her desk, and then he let one accidentally rip! She looked at him in disbelief, and he laughed. His manager made him go to her office the next day and apologize for farting in her office. Ha!
I’ll never forget the flood that happened once, and we went to the cafeteria to behold what looked like an aquarium. There is/was a pond in front of the cafeteria, but that day, the water was up about 3-4 feet, and you could see the koi swimming about.
And of course, there was a woman who got naked and took a swim in the pond; security came and chased her while she ran through the complex naked. It was funny, but sad, she had a mental illness that I was not aware prior to that, but it sure made a whole lot sense after I learned.
And not to forget the cherished ducks that lived there… one day I came into work to find a pile of feathers ni the parking lot, someone had mowed down at least two of them.
Good riddance on one hand, but many great memories on the other.
Thanks for sharing your memories …. they made my day
I worked there for a while, too, near their end. The smell in certain areas of those buildings was terrible. They just felt dirty. The only thing worse was the lack of parking. At least people had offices though — they built the new campus and almost everyone went into cubes.
I worked there briefly in 2014 in building one. My desk was in Marvin Odum’s old office. By that time he had moved on, and for good reason. Many from my department refused to work there due to the huge mold problem those old buildings had. I imagine at least some parts of those buildings flooded recently, but most of the offices were above the first floor. In 2014 (and probably still now) Shell didn’t own this old set of buildings, but had built a newer set adjacent and was leasing the older buildings temporarily. From what I hear the new buildings only had minor damage despite being so close to Addicks.
@Matt, @Joey jojo, I had the experience of working in buildings 6, 5 3 and 1. While in building 1, there was a man there who’s son was an astronaut. It was cool hearing him talk about NASA and his son’s work, it was so long ago, I can’t even remember his name.
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Shell actually owned the property initially if I recall correctly, but sold the property during a an especially difficult downturn. They also moved Shell Pecten International into building 1 (does that company even exist any longer?). I always thought it was a mistake, but who was I to question it?
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I recall Shell built a special “Media Room” for Pecten, it was state-of-the-art! :) It had dual 27 inch tube TV monitors, and I think a i386 computer with a revolutionary media service called ‘PointCast’! Ba-ha-ha! Even then I wondered why they wasted money on a pretty dumb screen saver. But, if you are in IT, and old enough to remember PointCast, it was the greatest media technology at that time, Animated GIFs and grainy videos. It was classic, I wish I took photos. Seriously, PointCast was a glimpse into the future as far as media went, who knew?!
I worked in Buildings 4 and 7. First met my wife in Building 7. Everything that has been said is true regarding mold, mustiness, raccoons, etc. The building layouts was also incredibly inefficient – each of the 7 buildings had a huge, triangular atrium at the center that was basically wasted space. IT equipment was generally unreliable, especially in the campus’s final days. For important meetings, it became common practice to book two meeting rooms in case you couldn’t get the projector and telecon equipment working in the first one.
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The one thing that I miss about old Woodcreek is the private offices. New hires typically shared an office for the first 2-3 years of their careers, and thereafter graduated to a private office. The new Woodcreek buildings are much nicer overall, but only VPs and up get offices.
I got some pretty nighttime drone footage of it just last night.
@Grant… I will twist your words a bit… ‘I met my FIRST wife’ in building 6. Ha! Wasn’t building 6 the IT building, 3rd floor if I remember correctly? Fortunately, I always had a private office, even when I was just starting out. In those days, people still smoked in the buildings. I had a sign by my door that said ‘No Smoking Please’, and some assholes would always sneak by and blow smoke into my office. I knew who it was though… a few years after that, the guy was busted… a girl from IT walked into his office late one evening looking for a key, or something, he was spanking the monkey! He was fired of course. Ha!
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I should write a book, so much happened there, and at the Happy Hours nearby… lots of drunk ‘old’ people… of course, I am one of those old people now… but not the drunk kind. One time, one of the nicest woman I knew there went to Happy Hour at Padding Station (RIP), got so drunk, she got up on the table and danced, and then took her bra off. Not sure what it meant back then… Women’s Lib? Nah…, just drunk.
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I remember running across the same woman in the parking lot about a year later… she looked a little “large”, and I asked her when she was due… she squinted at me, ‘told me she was not pregnant! I learned then not to ever ask a woman that question. Ooops! I loved my young years at Shell. :)
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And there was the good looking blonde from building 4… people hated her, I did not know why, she was pretty hot. Then one day we heard her and an electrician getting it on in her office, which had keys! Ha!
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Okay… back to work now.