That phoenix carefully painted only a week and a half ago onto the side of the Agora Cafe at 1712 Westheimer near Dunlavy is now gone, reports the camera of Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia. Agora and the Antique Warehaus that used to be next door donned extremely realistic fire costumes for this past Halloween. In place of the firebird, which onlookers took as a sign the cafe might soon reopen: A new sign for the cafe itself, probably a clearer indication. It looks like more paint has found its way to the front of the Montrose hotspot too:
Things are pretty much back to normal on the lower floors of the JPMorgan Chase building at 712 Main St. Downtown, reports former Houstonist editor Jim Parsons, who’s been settling back into the ground-floor offices of the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance after last week’s fire on the 27th floor. “We went to the part of the basement where our storage is located and there was no evidence of water [there], which was a relief. The most noticeable things post-fire are that the marble floors in the building lobby are covered with Eucaboard and that giant fans are blowing air freshener all around the ground floor.” Parsons says the Chase banking hall is open for business, but doesn’t have any updated info about the smoked-out upper floors. Houston’s fire department began an arson investigation last week. [
Among the businesses and organizations smoked out of the 36-story former Gulf Building Downtown at the corner of Main and Capitol after last night’s fire on the 27th floor: The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, which has offices on the ground floor of the 1929 tower, now named after JPMorgan Chase Bank. It’s likely the organization hasn’t lost anything, but none of the businesses with offices there will know for sure until the building is reopened. “Crews are currently on the scene fanning smoke out of the building,” the GHPA reported this morning — from a remote location. [
