05/19/17 5:15pm

 
It’s not clear yet whether there’s much more planned in the way of cosmetic changes for the Travis- and Commerce-facing sides of the new parking garage being wrapped up now at the corner of Franklin and Milam streets. (That’d be the 2 sides, shown above, that didn’t get the skirt of fake windows and storefronts along the sidewalk level, meant to help the building “blend in” with its surrounding Main Street Market Square Historical District companions.)  A reader checking up on the structure from a nook in the nearby Bayou Lofts building tells Swamplot that the crane used to construct the garage was removed in the last few weeks; the photo up top was snapped before that happened.

Okay — so the 2 flat concrete sides may blow the garage’s cover for building sleuths peering over from Main St. or Buffalo Bayou. But the lack of disguise does leave very little standing in the way of some kind of later jazzing up, whether that’s commissioned or not.

Images: Michael Partney (photo); Powers & Brown (rendering)

Straight Up Downtown
02/23/16 3:45pm

2411 River Oaks Blvd, Houston, 77019

Set your sights on this River Oaks mansion previously owned by late Texas governor John Connally (in office when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and wounded in the same car). The 1958 house’s minimalist-inspired exterior at the corner of River Oaks Blvd. and Locke Ln. belies a suite of neoclassically appointed formal rooms inside.   The 8,426-sq.-ft. home also contains 5 bedrooms (of which 3 are masters), 8 full baths, 2 half baths, and a pool. and is currently on the market for $4.9 million.

A state historical marker at the corner gate notes the house’s significance as John Connally’s former dwelling:

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What’s in the Box
01/29/16 5:15pm

harborside-mercantileHarborside Mercantile, 2021 Strand St, Galveston, TX, 77550Down in Galveston, seafood-slash-southern-focused Harborside Mercantile is opening up for a preview this evening, after clearing some liquor licensing hurdles that set back the planned December startup. The restaurant, located at 2021 Strand St., is a collaboration between Richard Craig (whose 3-wheeled Hubcap Grill will be getting a 4th location inside IAH) and Joshua Martinez (owner of The Modular foodtruck and the former Chicken Ranch).

The Strand, buoyantly styled as the “Wall Street of the South” in the 19th century, was battered by fires, the Civil War, and numerous destructive hurricanes before sinking out of prominence and settling into life as a warehouse district; historical restorations in the 1960s paved the way for the district’s eventual resurgence as a tourist destination.

Photos: Harborside Mercantile

 

On the Island
01/19/16 9:45am

A GLIMPSE OF THE HIDDEN PECAN AT 509 LOUISIANA ST., NOW THAT THE BUILDING IS OUT OF THE WAY Demolition of 509 Louisiana St., Downtown, Houston, 77002While much of the 1906 structure that formerly stood at 509 Louisiana St. was still on site as of early afternoon yesterday, the pieces had mostly been rearranged. A couple of excavators can be seen picking them over in this shot sent in by a reader. The once-secret pecan tree is also hanging out in the open as it waits for the axe  — look for the branches peeking out around the corner of the Calpine Center parking garage entrance, on the left edge of the shot. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Jack Miller via Swamplot inbox

01/13/16 4:58pm

509 Louisiana St., Downtown, Houston, 77002

517 Louisiana St. is down — the former haunt of the Longhorn Cafe (509 Louisiana, to the right of the hole in the above photo) was still standing as of 2 PM this afternoon, along with the pecan tree in its once-secret  courtyard. Both have permits lined up to follow 517 into the Great Beyond, to make room for surface parking on the block.

The hidden pecan tree is purported to harbor a ghost, rooted deep in some Republic of Texas history:

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Louisiana St. Demolitions
01/12/16 3:45pm

Demolition of 517 Louisiana St., Downtown, Houston, 77002

Time to bid adieu to 2 more of downtown’s oldest buildings: readers sent both sky-high and excavator-side photos of yesterday’s teardown work at 517 Louisiana St., and 509 is permitted to follow). According to the building’s owners, the next-door Lancaster Hotel’s parking crunch is the reason the 2 1906 Theater District neighbors will meet their flattened fates, along with a long-hidden pecan tree that shades a once-secret courtyard at 509. Taking their place: a surface lot for 50 cars — and, maybe, one day, an expansion to the hotel.

517’s transformation to empty space was complete by the end of the day yesterday:

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Coming Down in Downtown
01/11/16 3:30pm

Little White Church on property of Iglesia Sobre La Roca, 433 S. Barker Cypress Rd., Kingsland Estates, Houston, 77094

The Little White Church that fled the Marks LH7 Ranch in 2012 when the land was sold to developers appears to be finally settling in at the new digs — a reader sends this photo looking west  from Barker Clodine Rd., on the back side of the property of Iglesia Sobre La Roca where the building scooted to. The Little White Church is now a few shades whiter thanks to a new coat of paint, and appears to have gotten a big brown porch for Christmas. Eastgate Ministries moved out of the building to a country club in Katy in early 2014, after 15 years of using the building.

Meanwhile, back at the Marks LH7 Ranch (just across a long driveway to the south of the Church’s new home, and west along Kingsland Blvd.): the Vue Kingsland Apartments, the Aldeia West Apartments, and the Ryan Homes at Arcadia have all risen on the former state archaeological landmark, where a ranch-themed development was once promised.

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Kingsland Churches