Tag: Texas Medical Center

01/10/12 12:29pm

Smashing a Med Center Icon to Bits

Texas Medical Center, Uncategorized

11 Comments

Yesterday a few technical glitches got in the way of Swamplot’s plans to post videos showing the last moments of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Houston Main Building, the iconic 18-story limestone-clad building at 1100 Holcombe Blvd. once known as the Prudential Tower, which was demolished over the weekend. But they’re here now. Enjoy!

Jarringly, the official video below tacks an animated version of M.D. Anderson’s “Making Cancer History” tagline onto the end of the well-documented urban rupture — allowing us to imagine that this violent implosion is merely the urban expression of the institution’s core cancer-eradicating mission. Cancer be gone! in 10 . . . 9 . . .

77030, Demolitions, Implosions, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Texas Medical Center, Videos

01/06/12 4:50pm

M.D. Anderson Med Center Tower Collapse Will Be Streamed Live This Weekend

Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Texas Medical Center

6 Comments

There are no good accessible viewing areas for this weekend’s scheduled implosion of the Houston Main Building at 1100 Holcombe, the folks at M.D. Anderson insist. (That space they’re squeezing media reps into to watch the big bang? Too small.) But why get up so early on a Sunday morning just to catch a few lungfuls of white powder anyway? Instead, you can watch the festive destruction of the iconic former Prudential Building live on the web from this link. The dynamite is scheduled to go off January 8th at 7:52 am (unless, of course, one of those Life Flight helicopters is coming in). And there’ll be higher-res video available later.

Previously on Swamplot: M.D. Anderson: Prudential Building Demo Site Will Sit Vacant for Years, Med Center Prudential Tower Skeleton Will Survive Through End of Year, M.D. Anderson Tower Will Go Out with a Bang, Kill It in One Big Boom, Or Piece by Piece?, M.D. Andersonâ€™s Quiet Preservation Effort: Peter Hurdâ€™s Prudential Mural Has Left the Building, Sure Looks Like Demolition This Time: M.D. Anderson Begins Taking Down the Prudential Tower, Will M.D. Andersonâ€™s Contractor Bungle the Largest Fresco Rescue Ever?, The Prudential Towerâ€™s Grand Entrance, Before Its Not-so-Grand Exit, Update: M.D. Anderson Not Demolishing Former Prudential Tower Yet, Just Hacking Away at It a Bit, Report: M.D. Anderson Begins Demolishing Med Center Icon

Photo: Candace Garcia

77030, Demolitions, Implosions, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Texas Medical Center

Comments

12/14/11 11:04pm

Comment of the Day: Big Demolition Near the School of Public Health

Demolitions, Hazards, Quicklink, Texas Medical Center

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: BIG DEMOLITION NEAR THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH “Just make sure you are upwind of the implosion. The dust cloud is full of nasties like respirable Silica and Aspergillus.” [Rocco, commenting on M.D. Anderson Tower Will Go Out with a Bang]

77030, Comments, Demolitions, Hazards, Public Health, Texas Medical Center

11/28/11 10:03pm

M.D. Anderson: Prudential Building Demo Site Will Sit Vacant for Years

Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Houston History, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Texas Medical Center

9 Comments

An M.D. Anderson Cancer Center official tells the HBJ‘s Jennifer Dawson that the UT institution will likely wait 3 to 10 years before putting any new structure on the site of the former Prudential Tower it’s been working diligently all year to knock down. Workers were moved out of the 18-story structure — renamed the Houston Main Building — last year. The hulking remains of the iconic 1952 Kenneth Franzheim building at 1100 Holcombe Blvd. will come down in a cloud of dust after several rounds of dynamite blasts on January 8th.

M.D. Anderson senior VP Dan Fontaine says the Med Center institution doesn’t even have a design yet for the 2 new structures — likely for outpatient care — that will eventually be built in that location. Until the institution finds a better use for it, the demo site will be turned into a “park-like setting.”

Photo: Karen Lantz

77030, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Houston History, Implosions, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Proposed Developments, Texas Medical Center

11/15/11 10:18am

Med Center Prudential Tower Skeleton Will Survive Through End of Year

Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Houston History, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Texas Medical Center, Uncategorized

7 Comments

The folks charged with blowing up old buildings at UT’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have set a January 8th date for the big dynamite surgical event meant to knock down what’s left of the institution’s Houston Main Building. The hulking 18-story tower at 1100 Holcombe Blvd. was built in 1952 for Prudential Life Insurance as part of Houston’s first-ever suburban office campus, designed by architect Kenneth Franzheim. The Med Center institution bought the building in 1975, but began the long demo process early this year.

77030, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Houston History, Implosions, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Texas Medical Center

09/20/11 9:15am

M.D. Anderson Tower Will Go Out with a Bang

Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Houston History, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Texas Medical Center

12 Comments

The facilities steering committee at UT’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has decided to demolish what’s left of the institution’s Houston Main Building at 1100 Holcombe Blvd. with several blasts of dynamite — before the end of the year. The announcement in an online employee-only newsletter cited safety concerns for the decision: “Manual demolition with jackhammers and blow torches would expose our employees, our patients, the public and dozens of construction workers to noise, dust and vibration for months. Implosion reduces that exposure to a matter of minutes.”

The 18-story Med Center structure was known as the Prudential Building before M.D. Anderson purchased it from the insurance company in 1975. It was vacated last year, and demo work on the building began this past April. The newsletter announcement also recaps the institution’s explanation for knocking down the structure, which was designed by Houston architect Kenneth Franzheim in 1952 as part of Houston’s first suburban office park:

77030, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Houston History, Implosions, Medical Buildings, Office Buildings, Texas Medical Center

Openings and Closings

09/14/11 10:22am

Former Shamrock Hotel Ballroom Out of Coma, Reopens as Conference Center

Texas Medical Center

1 Comment

After almost 3 years on the “closed on account of its gonna-be-torn-down” list, the Edwin Hornberger Conference Center at 2151 W. Holcombe Blvd. — the last remaining vestige of the famed Shamrock Hotel complex that once stood at the corner of Holcombe and South Main — reopened yesterday under new management. The 13,000 sq.-ft. ballroom facility is still owned by the Texas Medical Center, but it’ll now be run by Trevisio Restaurant and will be open to non-TMC events. In 2008, the TMC announced plans to tear down the conference center and build 3 floors of office space on top of an adjacent parking garage.

Good news for the gala crowd: Hornberger Center reopens for all [West University Examiner]
Previously on Swamplot: Just When You Thought It Was Already Long Gone: A Second Demolition for the Shamrock Hotel

Photo: Trevisio Restaurant and Conference Center

77030, Event Spaces, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Texas Medical Center

08/16/11 11:04pm

Kill It in One Big Boom, Or Piece by Piece?

Quicklink, Texas Medical Center

2 Comments

KILL IT IN ONE BIG BOOM, OR PIECE BY PIECE? The big question now being debated by M.D. Anderson Cancer Centerâ€™s facilities steering committee: Whether to take down what’s left of the iconic Prudential Tower on Holcombe in one big fun Sunday morning dynamite-and-dust fest, or to dissect it one fossilized chunk at a time. Either way, they say they’re saving the fountain — somewhere. [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: HAIF user infinite_jim

77030, Demolitions, Texas Medical Center

Franchises and Chain Stores

07/22/11 2:17pm

A Different Kind of Medical Tourism

Quicklink, Restaurants, Texas Medical Center

12 Comments

A DIFFERENT KIND OF MEDICAL TOURISM How did Rockport, Texas, couple Karl and Carol Hoepfner get the idea to eat meals at all 722 Whataburgers in 10 states? It all started with a visit to the Texas Medical Center: “Carol, 73, was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer in her eyes, which eventually sent her to Houston for 23 days of radiation earlier this year. All of the appointments were late in the day, and Karl wanted to do something other than spend the rest of the time in their apartment.” The Hoepfners used their free time to visit all 90 Houston Whataburger locations first. They’ve reached 225 so far. [Corpus Christi Caller] Photo: Ivan Campos

Fast Food, Franchises and Chain Stores, Restaurants, Texas Medical Center

Institutional Buildings

07/11/11 4:44pm

M.D. Anderson’s Big Step Over the Bayou

Medical Buildings, New Construction, Office Buildings, Texas Medical Center

4 Comments

Here’s the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s massive new 1MC (for “Mid Campus Building 1”) at 7007 Bertner Ave., just a short hop into the medical frontier south of Brays Bayou. 25 stories, 1.4 million sq. ft., $350 million. All to consolidate various leasing tenants from 8 sites around the Med Center, plus get some space for future expansion. Swamplot reader Stephen J. Alexander hopped from parking garage to parking garage to capture these views:

77030, Institutional Buildings, Medical Buildings, New Construction, Office Buildings, Texas Medical Center

Art

04/07/11 3:12pm

M.D. Anderson’s Quiet Preservation Effort: Peter Hurd’s Prudential Mural Has Left the Building

Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Texas Medical Center

9 Comments

Last fall, the planned $500,000 rescue of a curved fresco painted by muralist Peter Hurd from the lobby of its Houston Main Building at 1100 Holcombe Blvd. was the focus of a small publicity campaign by UT’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. From the institution’s perspective it was probably a better story to focus attention on than the circumstances that instigated the move: the planned (and now active) demolition — despite the grumblings of many preservationists — of the 18-story 1952 Prudential Tower by Kenneth Franzheim that housed it. Since late January, when Linbeck (M.D. Anderson’s contractor) took the extraordinary step of firing fresco-conservation expert Nathan Zakheim from the job before the most delicate and proprietary portions of the process had been completed — and concerns were raised about how well the rescue could possibly be completed without him — the PR effort behind the tricky operation has been silent. Until today, that is.

77030, Art, Construction Problems, Deconstruction, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Texas Medical Center

Comments

04/04/11 5:14pm

Comment of the Day: Rock On, Prudential Demo

Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Quicklink, Texas Medical Center

2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: ROCK ON, PRUDENTIAL DEMO “Although I am a huge proponent of keeping architecturally significant buildings intact and committing to their re-use, this building is an exception. I worked on some interior spaces in this building and although it was beautiful on the outside (as beautiful as a limestone monolith can be) the interior, with the exception of the first floor was awful. Low ceilings, large thick structural walls and narrow passageways gave it a feeling somewhere between a habitrail and a cave. It is also loaded with asbestos. MD Anderson is committed to keeping functional buildings, as they showed by adding to to top of the existing Alkek tower last year, rather than tearing it down. Houston Main Building really did have to go.” [LISA, commenting on Report: M.D. Anderson Begins Demolishing Med Center Icon; more recently on Swamplot]

77030, Comments, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Texas Medical Center

04/01/11 3:47pm

Sure Looks Like Demolition This Time: M.D. Anderson Begins Taking Down the Prudential Tower