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Other
winners
2010
Kane, an 1890s "Folk Victorian" house in
Old Sixth Ward
2337
Blue Bonnet, a 1937 International Style residence
2421
Brentwood, a 1929 Katharine Mott-designed home
201
Main, the former First National Bank Building
Spire
Realty Group for its commitment to preservation downtown
1600
Westheimer, the former Imperial Plumbing Supply Building
3842
N. Braeswood, a 1960 modern office building
4916
Main, the former Weldon Cafeteria
Keck
Hall (Chemistry Building), Rice University
Girl
Scout Troop 12357, San Jacinto Council, for research
and assistance at Glenwood Cemetery
John
L. Nau III for his leadership in preservation
AIA
25 year award: Mies van der Rohe additions to the
Museum of Fine Arts |
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Spire Realty Group was an early player in historic preservation
in downtown Houston, and it has remained one of the most
active. Spire Realty has recently completed not one, but
six projects: The Sam Houston Hotel, Bayou Lofts, The
Topek Building, The McCrory Building, 509 Main Street,
and 708 Main Street.
This ambitious undertaking has added immeasurably to the
revitalization of downtown Houston, and the commercial
success of Spire Realty's projects provides an example
and impetus for other developers to restore other historic
properties. Spire Realty Group has made a tremendous contribution
to historic preservation in our city.
The Sam Houston Hotel,
located at 1117 Prairie Ave., was built in 1924 to cater
to traveling salesmen who arrived in Houston at Union
Station (now part of Minute Maid Park). The hotel's reincarnation
caters to the 21st century traveler as a luxury boutique
hotel. [Visit
the hotel's Web site]
Bayou Lofts
at 915 Franklin Ave. has a rich history as the home of
the Southern Pacific Railroad for more than 87 years.
Through its latest incarnation as residential lofts, this
important historic building remains a vital part of downtown
Houston.
When Spire Realty needed parking for Bayou Lofts, the
easy route would have been to demolish the 1906 Topek
Building at Travis and Commerce
to make way for a modern parking garage. Instead, Spire
preserved the façade of the Topek Building by supporting
it with massive structural bracing while an 88,000-square-foot
garage was erected behind it.
An important presence in Houston's revitalized downtown
is the McCrory Building
at Main and Prairie. The largest segment of the McCrory
Building was built in the 1920s, but portions of the building
along Prairie Avenue date to 1885. An interesting aspect
of this project was reproducing the original plaster artwork
of the old Isis Theater by making molds from the remaining
fragments.
Another Spire project is in the same block of Main as
the McCrory Building. 509 Main
St. is a Romanesque Revival
building that was once home to the Foley Bros. Dry Goods
Co.
The last Spire project for which this Good Brick is awarded
is preservation of a building closely associated with
one of the most important men in Houston's history: Jesse
H. Jones. Jones built the first part of the Bankers Mortgage
Building at 708 Main St.
in 1908, expanding it in 1922. Jones maintained his office
in the Bankers Mortgage Building while constructing the
adjacent 1929 Gulf Building, now known as the JPMorgan
Chase Bank Building, at 712 Main. To honor Jones and his
association with the Bankers Mortgage Building, Spire
has renamed the renovated building the Great Jones Building,
and it maintains Jones' old office on the second floor.
See
more photos from this project >
Next
winner: 1600 Westheimer >
Text: Martha Peterson
Copyright 2003, Greater Houston Preservation Alliance
This
year's sponsors >
GHPA home >
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