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Spring-Summer 1988 Hindcite Preservation: the Last Stand I

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Spring-Summer 1988 Hindcite Preservation: the Last Stand I 28 Cite Spring-Summer 1988 HindCite Preservation: The Last Stand i • — Bethje Lang Building, 1904; demolished 1988 Mike Davis Houston will be lucky to have any Square's Bethje Lang Building (316 historic downtown buildings left in the Milam; 1904), the former home of year 2000. The city's remaining Warren's Inn, from a scheduled Friday collection of late 18th- and early 19th- night demolition. In response, the owner century buildings that make up the Main entertained lease proposals for the Street/Market Square Historic District building. The building was demolished are constantly under siege. The district without warning in March. Also in has been listed on the National Register January, preservationists joined with local of Historic Places since 1982 and boasts environmentalists at Harris County 50 historic structures within an area of 16 Commissioner's Court to protest the city blocks at the north end of downtown proposed conversion of the Houston from about Texas Avenue to Buffalo Terminal Warehouse and Cold Storage Bayou. Over the past decades this stock Building (701 N. San Jacinto; 1927, of historic buildings has been depleted to Engineering Service Corporation) into a make way for larger structures and county jail. The warehouse is located at countless parking lots. If eight additional the confluence of Buffalo and White Oak buildings are lost, the district will lose its bayous, on the shore opposite Allen's National Register status. Landing. Also, concerns are being voiced about the plans for Market Square Park, These sobering facts motivated the recent particularly the exclusion of the clock symposium. Reclaiming Houston which once crowned the City Hall Downtown: New Directions for the Main building on the square from the Street/Market Square District. The DiverseWorks scheme. conclusion of this de-facto public goal- setting session was simple: the historic This wildly diverse range of actions district can survive if the actions of the occurring in the historic district exposes public and private sectors are coordinated a critical need for someone to organize through careful planning. the disparate interests that influence the fate of Main Street/Market Square. The well-attended symposium generated Whether this leadership is through a much needed enthusiasm for the future of private developer, such as in John the beleagured historic district. There is a Hannah's restoration of the Cotton pervasive assumption that if lower Main Exchange Building (1884. Eugene T. Street and Market Square are to be saved, Heiner. architect; Graham B. Luhn. ii will be through reviving the retail architect for restoration, 1974), or a spaces and night life the area has hosted, public/private commercial revitalization off and on, for the last 150-plus years. corporation, someone must take charge. Many of those who organized the There are some signs that the district may symposium are hoping for a combination be experiencing a recovery. The long- of the two approaches. There is a awaited restoration of the three-story, common-sense awareness that a single cast-iron front Pillot Building (1016 individual or entity cannot tackle an area Congress; c. 1860, Barry Moore, with such disjointed ownership and architect for rehabilitation) is outrageous property values. And formula forthcoming. Preservationists have fended commercial revitalization programs will off attacks upon this building for more not survive the economic realities of than a decade. During the symposium it downtown Houston. was announced that the Ritz Theater at 911 Preston (1926. William Ward Watkin. This much is clear; what remains of the architect), Houston's only surviving district in the 21st century will depend movie palace, would also be restored for upon individual acts by enlightened live theater performances. DiverseWorks property owners in response to public and is currently raising funds to implement a private historic preservation incentives. A new design for Market Square Park with sense of the past is still evident commissioned artworks (see "The New downtown. But if the city's past is to •Ifl' Market Square. Cite, Spring 1987). And remain a visible and vita! part of Main Central Houston Civic Improvement. Inc. Street and around Market Square, lovers has initiated a "Clean Streets" of history, architectural quality, and maintenance program to improve Main economic return must join together in a IARSEH Street's image. collaborative effort. • THE NEW TRADITION Still, there are conflicting visions. In January, public protest and direct 41 E.11 SINEW YDRKCITY10003 intervention temporarily spared Market .
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