Heritage, Fall 2006 Page: 17
39 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Houston Preservationists Fight to Save Architectural Icons
History's Unmaking?
By Gene KraneMention Houston, and the image of skyscrapers, dense living,
and concrete come to mind. While the city is working to preserve
some of its historic structures, Houston's preservation ordinances
are notoriously weak, and many older properties are in the crosshairs
of the wrecking ball.
Houstonians and visitors to the city will recognize some of the
most-threatened buildings. They include the Alabama Theater
(1939), on Shepherd, which was converted from a movie house
to a bookstore; the River Oaks cinema on West Gray Street (also
from 1939); and the adjacent River Oaks shopping center, built in
1936. The latter development served as Houston's first auto-centered,
suburban shopping center. All of these properties are owned
by one of Texas' largest real estate investment trusts, Weingarten
Realty. Interestingly, Weingarten was the same company that in
1984 meticulously revamped the Alabama Theater-described by
one preservationist as "simply horrible"-into the sophisticated
Book Stop retail space (now owned by Barnes & Noble). Arguablyone of the most beautiful and successful adaptive reuse projects,
the Alabama's Art Deco facade, stage, and proscenium were left
untouched and incorporated into the Book Stop layout. The River
Oaks Theater, Houston's oldest cinema, features "low-relief goddesses,
two stories tall, (flanking) the movie screen and the broad
sweep of plush seats (that) recall a by-gone era of movie-going
elegance," according to a report in Texas Architect. But even while
saving the Alabama, Weingarten Realty was responsible in 1994
for tearing down the 1940's-vintage Village movie house in the
Rice Village shopping center.
Weingarten has been very guarded about its plans for the future
of the River Oaks shopping center and both old theaters. The
company said in a letter dated October 9, 2006, to the Greater
Houston Preservation Alliance that they have "not announced a
redevelopment of either River Oaks Shopping Center or Alabama
Theater." The company has promised to weigh all options before
making a decision-but the wrecking ball could soon swing.HE RI TA GE/ Fall 2006
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Fall 2006, periodical, Autumn 2006; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45367/m1/17/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.