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Sww bin k youthful extra imports loke flake; covering the tldewolk in front ol Jonej Hall, jtonding in for Lincoln Ctnler during the filming of lorry McMuitry's ir*mgStm. Y_ e xe> fa fa | The Houston Theater District
DREXEL T U R N E R
IT IS A STRANGE THINCR THE LIKE OF WHICH, I THINK WILL OCCUR TO ONE
N HARDLY ANYWHERE ELSE THAN IN TEXASR TO HEAR TEAMSTERS WITH THEIR CA TTLE STAKED AROUND THEM ON THEPRAIRIER HUMMING AIRS FROM "DON CIOYANNIn. . .
Frederick Law Olmsted, New-York Daily Times, 24 April 1854 21
Mnjeslk Thtol! r Mouron I Russell, architects, 1911. When I redcnck law Olmsted, rhen a 12- Camp Logan d u r i n g the First W o r l d W a r . season in the Music H a l l in 1955), the year-old jonnialisr, visited I louston on In the early 1950s my parents watched I louston Ballet Foundation , and the rIn return leg of his journey through the t o u r i n g c o m p a n y of South Pacific in Society for the Performing Arts (SPA), Texas in spring IK54, he observed that un-air-conditioned c o m f o r t in the a u d i t o - a n o n p r o f i t presenter f o r m e d to fill the the town of not yet 5,000 showed "many rium, w h i c h was also the site of Friday gap left by the death of the impresaria agreeable signs o f . . . wealth accumulat- night wrestling matches. Edna B. Saunders, w h o for many years ed, in homelike, retired residences, its The symphony next moved to the air- was Houston's answer (telephonically as large and good hotel, its well supplied conditioned M u s i c H a l l (Alfred C. F i n n , well as figuratively) to Sol 1 l u r o k . shops, and its shaded streets." Among its 1937), a Public W o r k s Administratio n The functional characteristics of cultural assets he counted "several neat project w i t h a face only a commissar Jones I lall were determined by the churches, a theatre (within the walls of a could love. Built in tandem w i t h the theater consultant George Iz.enour; its City Auditorium, Mauran, Russell I Crowtll, architects, 1913. steam saw-mill), and a most remarkable Sam Flouston C o l i s e u m , it shared a c o n - design, otherwise the w o r k of Charles E. number of showy bar-rooms and gam- necting proscenium w i t h the Coliseum Lawrence of Caudill R o w l e t t Scott, was 1 bling saloons." Today the prim churches as a concession to theatrical Calvinism. schematically not u n l i k e Le Corhusier's have been reborn as suburban tabernacles The Music H a l l was remodeled in 1955 hall for the Palace of Assembly at umiiii the size of sports arenas; the showy bar- with the addition of a fan-shaped lobby, Chandigarh (1956). T h e exterior also rooms have multiplied and migrated, also wedge-shaped auxiliary seating areas on displayed an inadvertent 19.50s Italian much enlarged, to the outside-the-l.oop either side, and a one-way stage by iinn lass.ii .il : itioualisl finesse, .is com forum of Richmond Avenue; and the I l e r m o n L l o y d and W, B. M o r g a n . So parison w i t h Giuseppe Vacarro's T o w n converted sawmill has given way, on the improved, it persisted as the city's venue Center Savings Bank for the t o w n of Son Houston Coliseum and Music Hall Alfred C Finn, ordiilecl, south side ol the downtown bend in ot choice or default t h r o u g h most of my Lugo (1935) discloses. Like its c o n t e m p o - 1937. Buffalo Bayou, to what is said to be the childhood. My parents eventually took rary, the A s t r o d o m e , Jones H a l l was a second greatest concentration of theater me there to see a road c o m p a n y perfor- variable-configuration novelty, although, that double d in its p r o m o t e r s ' dreams and performing arts seats in the United mance of My Idtr l.itdy complete w i t h unlike the D o m e , variation was achieved as the N a t i o n a l Space H a l l of Fame. States - Mi,Sill In actual count. revolving sets; on other nights, L e o p o l d by " s t o p p i n g d o w n " the size of the Not only was the convention center t o o Stokowski presided over the I louston interior to a mere !,S()() seals tor greater The Theater District is a conspicuous small to be viable the day it opened, it Symphony in his post-Philadelphia d i m i n - uitimao h\ means i 'I an elaborate!* if still somewhat disjointed sign of wealth was sutliciently hemmed in to preclude uendo. N e x t d o o r , the Coliseum served counterweighted, t h o u g h rarely used, accumulated and invested on behalf of an expansion except by spanning Buffalo up rodeos, revivals, wrestling matches, movable celling. audience no longer primarily composed of Bayou, as the farmer's market that once and, on the F o u r th of July 1962 — as cattle. After a false start in 1 K90 when the As .in accessory to Jones ] lall and the occupied part of its sire had managed to Tom W o l f e relates in The Right Stuff— Sweeney and Coombs Opera House (and aesthetically challenged Albert T h o m a s do. Albert T h o m a s was vacated upon 30 barbecued animals to the seven nlhce huildmgl opened on the west side Convention Center one block west completion of the George R. B r o w n Mercury astronauts and a thundering ot Courthouse Square, (he cin \ perform- it .liulill Rowlett Scott, 196S), the city Convention Center on the east side of horde of " 5 , 0 0 0 businessmen, politicians ing arts organizations have tended to also buili a three-level, 1,750-car under- downtown in 1987, only later to become and their belter halves, fresh f r o m the gravitate toward the right angle in the ground p a r k i n g garage lodged beneath the unlikely object of one o f the most horrors of d o w n t o w n in J u l y . " ' Also on bayou, which, at the rum of the century, the convention center and a residual one- costly preservation efforts ever contem- the menu was the I.in dancing ot sexage- also included a farmer's market, a small block " p l a z a " separating Jones H a l l and plated w i t h i n the city limits. i V u
hotel w i t h an open c o u r t y a r d (the Brazos ii.u i.m .Sally Rand, then regularly engaged the convention center. Jones 1 lall Plaza The Alley Theatre, a small but accom- Court), and several breweries ( M a g n o l i a , in stretching the envelope ot occupational (also designed by CRS) featured an a w k plished repertory company formed in American) that flourished until Prohibi- age discriminatio n at the Stork C l u b on ward truncated p y r a m i d m o u n t e d on 1947, for years made do in a converted tion intervened. The H o u s t o n Symphony I e\as Avenue. some sides by backward-sloping steps and electric-fan factory on Berry Street across offered its first concert on 11 June 1913 The l.OOO-seat Jesse H. (ones H a l l , topped w i t h lollipop-sized trees in a not from a pink-tableclorhed trattoria called in the original Majestic, later Palace, sin it-homed n a t n i i i e former site of the very c o n v i n c i n g attempt to disguise t w o Portofino, an early and symbiotically Theater on Texas Avenue ( M a u r a n is: C it\ A u d i t o r i u m in travertine-clad splen- double-lane entrance ramps to the p a r k i n g positioned outpost of valet p a r k i n g in the Russell, 191 I ) , a vaudeville house that dor by C a u d i l l Rowleti Scott, replaced below. T h e convention center followe d a City. In I96S the A l i o moved d o w n t o w n was first bridged over, then eventually lire M u s i c I lall as the city's premiere footprint promulgated by the econometri - into striking it i m p r o b a b l y castellated swallowed up by the expansion ot the venue in 1966. The construction cost of cians ol the now-defunct Stanford new quarters designed by Ulrich Franzen Houston Chronicle Building. In I 9 3 I the $6.6 m i l l i o n was contributed by H o u s t o n Research Institute in 1962 as part of a o n the n o r t h side of Jones I lall Plaza. symphony moved to the budget Beaux- Endowment Inc., the philanthropic heir comprehensive plan tor the I louston Civic- Two-thirds of the %~S m i l l i o n construction Arts luxe of the all-purpose City A u d i - to Jones's fortune, w h i c h included c o n - Center. It spread over three city blocks at cost ol the new b u i l d i n g was provided torium ( M a u r a n , Russell iv C m w c l l , siderable real estate holdings in the a cost of %\l millio n w i t h the grace of a by the Ford F o u n d a t i o n as part of a pro- 19! 51, a hall so adaptable that it was immediate vicinity. Jones H a l l took in the cenlipodnl box-culvert, enveloping more < ^ ^ gram to aid and abet the proliferatio n of converted into a school for the more than Houston S y m p h o n y, the H o u s t o n G r a n d than 2 0 0 , 0 0 0 square feet ot clear-spanned regional theater; the site — three-quarters 500 children of servicemen stationed at Opera ( w h i c h had produced its inaugural exhibition space together w i t h a lobby of i block — was donated by I louston 22 1 9 9 6
\ " lfHHlim,J
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Savings Bonk for the Town Center, Lugo, Italy, Giuseppe Smashing pumpkin: Cecilia Bartoli gets out of the house in the title role of iff Cenerenfoto, video-fed 10 Nov iber 1995 lo spectators in Roy C. Fish Ploio in front of Gus S. Worlhom Theater Center, Morris VcKoiro. OKliitKl. 1935. Aubry Architects, 1987.
Fndowmcnt. The Alley's inner w o r k i n g s ment soon took to slipcovering the Jones Hall Plaza. The estimated cost of were, as in the case of its neighbor, southeast ramparts w i t h banners advertis- $100 million, however, precipitated a [imes 11.ill. masterminded h\ < icorge ing events {"Greater Tuna — L i m i t e d case of sticker shock that purportedly l/.enour. Its special features included a l.ngagenient — D o l p h i n F r i e n d l y " ] and cost the architects the commission. lighting system controlle d by a n analog the names and trademarks of patrons, As ultimately configured (and built for digital computer using "stapled cards corporate and otherwise. $72 million) according to the plans of rather than the hole-punch v a r i t e y" and By the m i d - 1 9 7 0 s , Jones H a l l c o u l d Morris Aubry Architects, 1979-87, the economically accommodatin g chairs longer satisfy the demand for perfor- Wortham Theater Center disposes its two spec i.illv designed m the I lectrn- nce dates generated by the s y m p h o n y , houses, the 2,225-seal Brown I heater Mechanieal l a b o r a t o r y of the Yale p»jka. ballet, and SPA. A Lyric Theater and the 1,102-scat (allien '['heater, side Jesse H. Jones Hall. Caudill Rowlell Si oil, architects, 1966, School ol D r a m a . The MOO-wat mfl bundarion waschartered in break the by side on the block farther from Jones theater was conceived as a "multi-space seatjam, beginning w i t h a campaign to 1 lall Plaza, with the stage loading docks stage w i t h caliperlike extensions spread [lie news that the city's theatrical backing onto Preston Avenue along the ing the sides of the fan-shaped scatijrg resources compared unfavorably w i t h north side of the block.6 The Siamese- area, a peripheral detail appropriated by those oFjsiewark, N e w Jersey, locally twin arrangement of the two houses, Nina Vance, the Allev's loundcr and esteemed as the bub of People Hxpress. following the less exalted example of the director, f r o m the runways <>t ] a p a nest? Philip j u l m s o i i . whose experience u n h i d Brooklyn Academy of Music, is achieved Noh d r a m a . ' W h e n plans were first pub ed the design of she New Y o rk State at the expense of a second full side stage lished, the bu i l d i n g was described as Theater in Lincoln Center (1964) for the and conventionally deep backstage for "programmed to attract pedestrians dur- New Y o r k C i t y Opera and the Ne w Y o r k the opera house, so that, for example, ing non-theater hours. An arcade r u n n i n g City Ballet, prepared an initial scheme jn Air Force One cannot enter stage left ^
Cutaway drawing of Jones Hall showing adjustable ceiling from through the b u i l d i n g w i l l house stores, an 1978 for a two-theater c o m p l ex on t w o and then exit stage right for Ntxtm in George C. Iienour, Theater 1ethnology, McGraw-Hill, 1988. inexpensive restaurant, and a cafe. T h e bayou-side blocks the city o w n e d t o u c h- China, but must practice the deception large-scale elements of the b u i l d i n g |i.e., ing the northwest corner of Jones I bill of emulating the helicopter in Miss the castle turrers| having been placed on Plaza.s His generic proposal, tentatively Saigon. The block itself is almost com- the side of the freeway, serve to attract following the Alley's cue, was a jumble of pletely filled by the stage and audience the attention of the approaching motorist robust, round-cornered towers with inter- areas, causing the ceremonial entrance Irom a considerable distance. In a d d i t i o n , mittent boxes for lobbies and auditori- and principal lobby to be forced over a drive-in box office has been provided." - ' ums. The smaller theater — included as Prairie Avenue and onto the block closer a venue for "community" organizations to Jones I hill Plaza, assuming the shape The Alley also included a smaller, to make the project more palatable to of a peninsula in plan and a (partially >()() seal arena stage in the basemem the City Council (which would have to escalatored) stile in section. replicating the berry Sireel location s.ins approve the allocation of the site to the four-poster columns, where my better The entrance to the lobby is marked theater project I — was placed on the half and I watched Spalding Gray d r i n k by a supercolnss.il, round-arched opening block tangential to Jones Hall Pla/.a. The pitchers lull ot water while d i l a t i n g on on the scale of that of Paul Bonatz's larger house occupied the more distant the trauma of home o w n e r s h i p . But the Stuttgart train station (1928), but de- block, where it had room to accommo- shops and eating places failed to material- rived, according to the architects, from date full side as well as back stages like ize as promised. Whereas the Berry Street the eleventh-century Benedictine abbey Map af Theater District. those of the Metropolitan Opera i louse in location had managed a marquee of church at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. Lincoln Center. A common lobby spanned 1 Worthom Theater Center sorts, Franzen made no such undignified ' This dominant glazed aperture stares 7 Alley Theater Prairie Avenue — a sacrosanct outbound provision, even though Jones H a l l was across the leftover part of the site into the 3 Jones Hall conduit to the suburbs ol near west 4 Jones Hall Plata endowed w i t h a demure backlit sign- side wall and loading docks of the former Houston — while a stepped entrance 5 Boyou Plo« board I ' i ' D Q Bach . . . T o n i t e . . . 8 P.M. Albert Thomas Convention Center. The 6 Music Hall beckoned from the complex's toehold on . . D o n ' t Fuguet!"|. The Alley manage- formidable bulk of the theater block is 7 Coliseum 23
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CHAIN
Tundra and lighting; A wider view ol the fidewalh in from ol Jones Hall iced lor filming ol furring Star, 12 December 199S.
sometimes a virtual oven, and with umpteen thousands of feet of travertine bouncing light, footcandle readings are extraordinary." As a consultant, Whyte recommended retrofitting the plaza with trees of sufficient si/e to make possible % daytime use. Philip Johnson provided sketches to demonstrate the practicability Sidewalk «ene, Jonei Hall Plaza, with preparation! tor a Party on In* Pima, 23 May 1996. Alley Theatre (Ulricfa Fronien, architect 1968) ton be teen with banners in background. of the scheme, but in the end Whyte's trees tell victim "to the cost ol a new solidly clad in dark brown brick except Auditorium, wrapped in a thick skiti of of luminarut — intricately contrived dis- granite floor." '-
for a few slit windows sen ing offices hotel rooms and offices (188fW89); of play's ot Highlighting produced by the Jones Hall Plaza — riven by parking along the backstage side and granite trim William B. I mlnll's ( arnegie I tail, mm Italian Ministry of Tourism and ramps, exposed on all four sides to traf- work around the base. The brick veneer gled with the studios and offices of Henry Performing Arts. This special effect was fic, and irradiated by the Texas sun — is extends across the bridge and onto the J. Hardenbergh's companion tower one-upped in December 1995 by the thin more incorrigible but arguably still this main entrance face, pausing for an occa- 11 891, 18941; and of J. C. Cady's original fringe ot snow manufactured across the side of hopeless. With adequate funding sional large window, such as the pair Metropolitan Opera House < 1 88.?), which street tor the filming of Evening Star, one or both of the ramps could be relo- that penetrate either side of the lobby contained both commercial space and an Larry McMurrry's sequel to Icrins of cated to the neai side of tIn formet 4* bridge. A freestanding, lowriding, backlit apartment hotel.'' I ndearment, in which the colonnade of Albert Thomas Convention Center, there- signboard is planted on the east side of Perhaps something of the same sort Jones Hall was made to simulate a wintry by eliminating the need for the p\ ramid- 10 the plaza in lieu of a marquee, while a would suffice a-- .i wa> i.l both amending Lincoln Center. stile and allowing a cascade of steps to phalanx of six large, copper-colored, the Wortham and providing a modest Plazas are not something most descend more or less directly the ten or immobile metal halls keeps stretch limos stream of income by "filling out" or " i n " Americans — let alone Houstonians— so feet from the site's high southeast cor- .it b.i\, lis v irttie "I it's somew li.it shel the site with uses that would contribute take to gladly. As Paige Reuse, the long- ner to the low point diagonally across tercd sidewise orientation, the plaza pro- some street life to the district. The rebirth running editor of Architectural Digest from the Wortham Center. Adequate vided a serviceable setting tor trill seekers of the small Lancaster I nee Auditorium) and not one to be easily outfauxed, below-grade accommodations for large- to take in the tree outdoor simulcast of Hotel at the corner connecting Jones Hall observed, there should "be a law requir- trees — if trees arc wanted — could be last fall's production of I.J C.enercittoLi and the Alley and the conversion last year ing that the person who invented con- gouged from the recesses of the garage, with Cecilia Bartoli, but it is seldom so of the ! logg Building, another block crete pedestrian plazas get his |or her| even at the cost of a few score parking happily engaged. away, to residential apartments already head examined. Walking across those places. Water features might be intro- ducc d .is v. i l l , adding blut noise to unit The Wortham has proved an undoubt- suggest that the neighborhood is able to expanses of hot, glaring concrete is one fie the sounds of traffic. The stubby ed boon to the operation of the Houston reward such I'litreprenetirship, at leasl of the most alienating things imaginable. ventilation shafts that presently stake out Grand Opera and the I louston Ballet, as in small doses, as does the success of . , . The shadeless, sickly trees are partic- the four corners of the plaza could also well as the Society for the Performing Charley's 517 restaurant around the cor- ularly depressing, sticking up through be moved offsite with some creative Arts andJ Da Camera, a more recenr recentll y m i I the I am astei and bin iporetti's the pavement, but I di i lei .i certain rerouting of ducts and fans. Disencum- formed cchambe r music and recital pre-.cn in the garage behind tin- AI U-s I licatre. comradeship with them as fellow living bering the site and expanding its basic tor. Hut its architectural and tirbanistic To return to Jones Hall Pla/a, another things: I greet them across the plaza as capabilities are preconditions, not substi- qualities remain problematic, a* Ann s-than-ideal multipurpose fixture of the though they had arrived in the land of tutes, for the application of the talents of I lolmcs and Stephen fox have pointed istrict that, even so, shows occasional concrete on the same space-ship with 1 a designer who could make Jones Hall mil/ I hie can raitoiiah/e lis defieienci signs of lite and transformational apti- me." ' William Whyte, whose voyeur is Plaza perform as well as the companies as Carl Cunningham attempted iti rh tude: bereft as it is, the plaza was the site tic fascination with the public life of around it do. Houston Post by observing tlutt "tin- that Central Houston Inc. — a special- small urban spaces made bedfellows of one-way-mirror, time-lapse photography world is full of great-big, chunky-looking, purpose downtown improvement issocia In a well-meaning if inherently and lite Rockefeller Brothers Fund, unlit,in.in opei i houses. I hat's the nature tion — fixed on for its Thursday-evening strained attempt to capitalize on the olfered a similar view ol the plaza at of the beast."' Hut to arrive at this conso- block parties tor lonely urban profession- "festival market" phenomenon pioneered Lincoln Outer, originally to have been lation, one must ignore instances where als [Single Female Accountant seeks by benjamin Thompson and James Rouse planted with large trees, graphically large, unwieldy houses have defused the Single/Divorced Male Arbitrageur to for the salvation of Boston's venerable " ^ r depicted by Hugh ferns but lillun.itcK problem of momimcnrality altogether enjoy cndllt spprs, smntr cruises. Wll St Quincy Market, the administration of clearcur by Robert Moses as a cost-sav- through the deus ex machina of hybrid Jrnl — no hostile takeovers, shared Mayor Kathryn J. Whitmire solicited ing move before ground was broken tor programs — as in the case of Schinkel's modems or debit cards|. This teat ot proposals from developers in J 988 the plaza and garage below. "The loss projected theater for the merchant city of matchmaking also brought the portable- hoping to wring similar benefits Irom was a great one," Whyte contended, for 1 lamburg 11825-27), with its perimeter toilet industry to the district on a regular the Albert Thomas Convention Center. notwithstanding the plaza's appeal at bank of offices and street-level boutiques; basis. I he pla/a proved no less compati- Whitmire's previous experience in joint- night, "during the day it is a glare box, ot Adler and Sullivan's steadfast Chicago ble with the installation in October 1987 venture commercial development was 24
Boyou Piece Theoler project, ic-rlion. ITH I: s n n rt n rf—'
Composite Pkm, Trtettter/tnlerloinmenl Mnll level. Bo you Place Theoler iDnveriion ol Albert Thomos Convention Center (project), Michael Graves, architect, 1991. Model looking west.
scat, super-si/.e "Broadway-type" house u h.ii u as puhlk i / i i l as .i S.V. n u l l u m a slender strip along the west wall of the for musicals. Graves's plans served as the project. W i t h no other financing in sight, Wortham Theater Center and the entire basis for what proved to he u n f r u i t f u l he renegotiated the terms of the lease in block immediately to the n o r t h of the negotiations between Pace as a prospec- May 1996 to secure $X m i l l i o n of direct WMIIham. M e ! C h i n and Dean Ruck have tive prime tenant, and C o r d i s h . A m o n g city f i n a n c i n g in return for substantial been selected to provide additional embel- the selling points ol the scheme, aside rev/nW "give-backs" — assuming lishments through the art-in-puhlic-places from its 1 larlequmescjiie c o n f l a t i o n of there ruiglu someday he positive cash program of the C u l t u r a l Arts C o u n c i l of commedia dell' arte ,m<\ Tcxanic totems? fluw to snare.'* I loustop/Harri s C o u n t y . c*. • was "a VIP loge level between the orches- For die tune being, Cordish's nonc- In May 19yd, M a y o r Lanier endorsed Albert fhomot Convention Center and Jones Hall Plain, Coudill tra and upper b a l c o n y " that could he roo transformative remodeling of Albert the plans ft the I louston Music H a l l Rowlett Scott, 1968, aerial perspective. marketed like l u x u r y suites are at sports hennats \w Vi | l! |l continu ^ , i e according to esscn- 1 du n d a i i o n to redevelop the site of the 1 4 arenas. Graves's scheme also eliminated tially thhe saVn same f o r m u l a . Rather than look Musk I Till and Coliseum at a cost of $60 the west block of Albert T h o m a s , along t o the revival of the Covcnt Garden ion, to include a 2,~(>U-scat theater 1 limited to the already troubled F.l with an elevated connecting section over Market or some other remotely conso- a smaller 7(H) seal hall.- " The o n g i - Mercado project near the northeast cor- Bagby Street, as had been recommended nant model that might e x p l o i t an over- plan h a J B f c i to partition the site ner of d o w n t o w n , and few developers in a study prepared for Central H o u s t o n looked market niche, Cordish has chosen ween a reconstituted Music I Till and a bothered to submit proposals. The Rouse Inc. by Dennis Frenchman in 1984.'"' to replicate, on a smaller scale and w i t h nbling casfgoEKnt w o u l d replace the Company passed, a m o n g others, and Whitmire's successor as m a y o r . Bob parking extra, the aire oliseuin — a p a i r i n g thai recallssCharles^^^. ^ the dubious concession was granted to Lanier, and the city controller, George hook] lanuer's I heater a n d Casino at Monte 1 t c n t u n Development and George 1 ttcas's (.re.lni.i-.. questioned, a m o n g othi i Strip. Whatever the merits of this gra t .n loi l IS~S-.S2). T h e Texas 1 eg islature, Skywalker Development corporations. things, the terms extended to Cordish oT multiplex', eveu the best s t o m p i n g however, declined to pass enablinrig legisla^j^ F Century/Skywalker proposed a vaguely for the Albert T h o m a s venture as overly- grounds lor urbanCOWpcr'sons .ire rion, and all bets were put cut hoi , i aig futuristic entertainment mall called Bayou generous, but to no avail. After a p r o - remarkably transitory proposition , enough to discourage potential investors. Walk, a landlocked pleasure pier designed longed period of hesitation, C o r d i sh witness d i l l e y 's (now playing to tour In the latest sci n m o , I lie i t u Under flu by Jon Jerde of San Diego, whose experi- proceeded to make g o o d his 60-year lease buses in Branson, Missouri) and the Stars ( T U T S I , a n o n p r o l i f musical theater ence included I i o r t o n Plaza in d o w n t o w n by announcin g plans in M a r c h 1995 to continual turnover on R i c h m o n d . A l l r>l vonip.nn that began operation in Millet San Diego and City W a l k at Universal develop an entertainment mall featuring a which suggests that Clueless rather th.iu Outdoor Theater in H e r m a n n Park in City Studios in Los A n g e l e s . ' ' country-western " a n c h o r " nightclub in I'II'LIH Cinrboy may have provided the 196N, w i l l be the p r i m a r y tenant, w i t h the Soujtfy for the P c r l u r m i n g A r t s ' In the months that f o l l o w e d , the approxiniat e location of Graves's cinematic inspiration for G H J Broadway Sci ies, produced in association Century/Skywalker was unable to attract theater, to be operated as part of a makeover, and that the city with Pace Entertainment, accounting lor financing and w i t h d r e w . D a v i d C o r d i s h , a chain called D e n i m and D i a m o n d s by have flushed another $8 m i l j the G r a h a m Brothers of Odessa, Texas, hst.mrtal p o r t i u n of the remaining Baltimore-based runner-up in the A l b e r t bayou in a futile attempt tcjj id repos and prefaced by a gantlet of 12 sub- sessing Albert T h o m a s in u Thomas i m i t a t i o n of " J e o p a r d y " and IHSIIIS ates. The smaller hall is to be uses! lor venues and several theme restaurants abated reincarnation. developer of similar attractions in Salt children's programmin g and emerging where Graves's plan had indicated a Lake C i t y , D e t r o i t , Niagara Falls, and The bayou edge of thtVheaj^^Tsmc t companies. As luck w o u l d h a \ e it, it plaza similar arcade. Cordish's arcade was Charleston, South C a r o l i n a, was given the has already been altered b> the partial also figures into the scheme, "pos-sibb in inauspiciously labeled " B o u r b o n Street" opportunity to proceed in late 1 9 9 1 , dur- development of Scsiiuie^Htennial Park, a the f o r m of a grassy p a r k . " to set rhe in the final plans for the protect prepared ing the final days of the W h i t m i r e a d m i n - two-phase, public-private project orches- complex back f r o m Bagby Street a n d rhe by Luis B o d m e r . lhThe G r a h a m Brothers istration. In 1992 Pace Entertainment trated by Central H o u s t o n Inc. f o l l o w i n g not-so-grassy Tranquillit y Park on the opted o u t of the agreement in early 1996, Corportion, a Houston-based producer of a design w o n in a competitio n (spon- other side of Bagby (Charles Tapley causing a previously scheduled August attractions f r o m musical theater to tractor sored by the Rice Design Alliance) by Associates, 1979), w h i c h spreads across 1996 opening to be postponed while pulls, commissioned M i c h a e l Graves to TeamHOU (Guy Hagstette, John l.emr, yet another city-owne d underground Cordish sought another prime tenant and and Robert Liner w i t h David Calkins) in parking garage. Funds are being raised dc\ ise .i plan to conven the easi and mid 7 co-investor.' At that point Cordish was and a short list of prospective architects die blocks of the e x h i b i t i on hall into a I 9 8 6 . * ' T h e second phase, n o w under reported to have spent $4 m i l l i o n t o w a r d has been settled o n , t h o u g h not made small commercial arcade and a 3,000- construction, includes the landscaping of 25
Glovonni Bottislo Piranesi, Theaters of Balbui [Ml] ond Maicellus (right), both 13 B.C., ond neighboring architecture, with Tiber River in foreground.
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g y w o u l d r e q u i r e demolishin g t h e w e s t new or i m p r o v e d s p o r t s a r e n a s e s s e n t i a l 11 Paige Reuse, quoted in I isa Taylor, ed„ Hrlian ( iftt'o Spaces (New York: RizXOlirX oopcr I lewilt t o r e t a i n t h e c i t y ' s major-leagu e b r a g g i n g 1 -1 block of A l b e r t T h o m a s , u u l t h e s e c t i o n Museum. I" *), p. it). spanning B a g b y , as e a r l i e r p r o p o s e d by rights, o t h e r o p t i o n s m a y h a v e to be 12 Willi.mi It. whytc. t i t v : Rediscovering the Center [New York: Doubleday, 1988), pp. I16-37. both f r e n c h m a n a n d G r a v e s . N e i t h e r p a r t explored.-' L a s t y e a r , t h e T h e a t e r I t Bruce W'ehh, "Hollywood Hoes 1 luuscon," figures in C o r d i s h ' s i m m e d i a t e p l a n s . T h e District's r e s i d e n t c o m p a n i e s d r e w in Ci/c, Spring 1 W , p. 2 i. 14 "Bayotl Place Theater, 1 Illusion, I e\as, opening so g a i n e d c o u l d be redevelope d excess ot 1.5 m i l l i o n p a y i n g c u s t o m e r s , 1W," in k.iren Sishols. Lisa Burke, and Patrick a s a s e r i e s of b r o a d s t e ps a s c e n d i n g f r o m more t h a n Hie A M I . . - - md t h e O i l e r s Burke, eds.. Michafl Cirjirs; HmUimgt and Projects, 1990-VJ iNew "l