Jack Tar Motor Hotel Pool Terrace, 1961 [Courtesy of Guy W. Carwile]
Cite 77: Here and Gone
While we enjoy the feelings of glamorous nostalgia when looking at images such as the one on the cover of the latest issue of Cite (77), our society has a difficult time evoking wonder and admiration when large physical remains – namely buildings – survive beyond their useful lifetime. They appear worthless, outdated, inefficient and “old.” Our culture embraces the newest, cheapest, and most efficient to define what is “best.” Cite 77 is about memory. Daily, we choose to reuse what we inherit, or demolish and rebuild. The Jack Tar Hotel has been replaced by the Emerald Isle Condos, which has the feel of little more than half-full retail and concrete. Is it better than what was razed?
Margaret Culbertson, in “Here and Gone,” recreates, through her careful research and beautiful prose, lost buildings such as the 1895 St. Joseph Infirmary and links them to buildings that are still here with us, such as the Southern Pacific Hospital (now Thomas Street Clinic).
We live amongst constant reminders of Texas’ oil heritage and most of us chose to politely erase it from view and memory – it is ugly, smelly and dirty. Or is it? “We the Petroleum People” challenges us to look again at the surrounding oil infrastructure with a new, keen eye. Some of it is actually stunning if we take a moment to really look. Can our memory and perception be altered by a new set of lenses that change the way we view our surroundings?
And no piece written in February 2009 would be complete without mention of our current economic crisis. Many decent existing buildings, some of them historic, were torn down in anticipation of new development. And the majority of those plans are now scrapped leaving large swaths of land to patiently await the next building boom. The silver lining is that the current economy may save the Statler Hilton or at least buy it some time to find a new use and a creative developer willing capitalize on the inherent glamour now hidden within an abandoned and tattered building. Will this economic crisis force us to be more responsible in our new development and incorporate existing buildings (and memory) into what is new, efficient and best?
The Kraigher House, designed by Richard Neutra, in Brownsville was brought back from the brink of extinction. The project reminds us that a creative approach is often what is needed to save existing and historic buildings. Will our new and iconic development projects withstand the test of time and will they have the power to evoke memories to future generations who spend those hours of leisure enjoying them?
Below is the full table of contents:
Cite 77
Citings
Opening: Singing the Freeways
Cite Beat: The Future of Civic Art
Economy: Tipping Point
Urban Update: Metrorail’s Future Plans
Interview: Steven Heller
Art: We the Petroleum People
Craft: Studio Glass
Features
Downtown’s Downtown: Houston Pavilions and an Urban Dilemma by Max Page
Houston Here and Gone: Remnants and Reminders of Houston’s Past by Margaret Culbertson
Modern Revival or Wrecking Ball: The Statler Hilton by David Theis
A Daring Rescue: Netura’s Kraigher House Returns to Life by Catherine Gavin
Paradise Lost: The Galveston Jack Tar Motor Hotel by Guy W. Carwile
The Suburb of Tomorrow: Frank Sharp and the Legacy of Oak Forest by Randal L. Hall
Readings
Mark A Wilson’s Julia Morgan: Architect of Beauty by Barry Moore
Jim Parsons and David Bush’s Houston Deco: Modernistic Architecture of the Texas Coast by Anna Mod
Hindcite
The Afterlives of Buildings by Polly Morrice
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