Change the Conversation
By urbanhoustonian at August 23, 2009 | 12:40 PM | Print
For the record, I do not think Houston is the greatest city in the world. That title, in my opinion, belongs to New York City. However, it’s a helluva lot better than most people are willing to admit. Their frustration, I feel, lies in their inability to accept certain truths about Houston. They come here from other parts of the country with their own urban sensibilities. They can’t accept Houston isn’t what they are used to, and then become set on changing Houston to suit their own views. It’s not that Houston can’t be improved, but people fail to take Houston into consideration whenever they start on their various crusades.
For instance, if you are staunch preservationist, Houston is truly the wrong city for you to live in. I always get annoyed over the lamentations of so-called historical buildings getting demolished in some part of Houston. I’m a syntactical kind of guy. When you say historical preservation, I’m going to assume there is some kind of historical significance to what you are trying to preserve. However, as far as I can tell, most of the so-called historical preservation you read about it more architectural preservation. That is, the preservation of a certain kind of architectural style. Art deco seems to be the most popular in Houston whether it be the Landmark River Oaks or West Alabama Bookstop or, this week’s latest, this art deco gem on Harrisburg.
Sterling Laundry & Cleaning Co.
I’m not sure what the deal is with this property. I originally heard about this building about two years ago, and was led to believe then that it was going to be demolished. In fact, again this is my understanding, a former METRO employee left the company over this very building after METRO went back on their original promise to preserve the facade. Now, I don’t know if METRO came back to the table or not, but I’m pretty sure METRO only intended to save this building as long as it didn’t cost them any money. That’s how METRO works. How this building sat for two years without someone doing something is the real tragedy. Particularly when the people making the loudest protestations don’t trust METRO the distance I can throw one of their buses. I would never entrust METRO with anything involving the preservation of an old building, and don’t really blame them when someone made the mistake of doing so.
This situation is the kind of thing that just annoys me about historical preservation in Houston. They can’t seem to do anything proactive about saving any buildings. Here’s the deal, Houston sold its soul to developers a LONG time ago, and there’s no going back. Accept that or STFU. That is not to say we can’t or shouldn’t preserve buildings, absolutely not, but there are two things that must happen if you want to create a more preservationist culture in Houston.
1. Hold the Mayor and City Council accountable for rewriting the laws on the books.
The current laws can only gum developers to death. They need teeth, and City Council is the only body in the city that can do that. It needs to be an election issue. Pure and simple. The only drawback to this approach is developers also donate to the campaigns of incumbent and would-be mayors and council members. The good news is, there is another approach.
2. Make preservation of older buildings profitable.
Preservation is an costly enterprise. Developers use this fact to their advantage. They let old buildings rot until it’s cheaper to tear down and rebuild. This model needs to be flipped, and I have an idea about how it can be done, but we need Harris County to get involved.
I propose a tax abatement for property owners who preserve older buildings. Make it 5-10 years. That seems like a long time, but you have to remember we need to make this worth the financial investment preservation requires. Now, to make up for the lost tax revenue that results, you raise taxes on property owners who tear down and rebuild. It’s not a perfect solution. I fear it could lead to more sprawl; many developers would opt to find large plots elsewhere. And, the plan could be junked if the county or city started losing tax revenue. In any case, there are smarter people than I who can and should come up with a viable way to make preservation a profitable endeavor. At the end of the day, developers are in the business to make money. Getting indignant over their lack of sentimentality over old buildings is pointless.
Which brings me back to my original point about Houston. These disputes over old buildings seem to be solely about saving buildings for the sake of keeping them. I’m sorry, but that’s not Houston. I also happen to think Houston’s future is much brighter than its past. We still haven’t taken the world stage. We are still a very young (173 years) city. We’ve been getting a lot of attention lately, and it hasn’t been due to our wealth, or lack, of art deco buildings. Houston’s skyline maintains a high ranking internationally. We’re a city of opportunity, albeit slowing down. Our lack of zoning remains the single greatest and worst thing about the city. In short, what makes Houston Houston isn’t all that old. We continually evolve, change and rebuild because we have to, we need to, it’d be very UN-Houston to do otherwise. Again, I’m not trying to say tear it all down! No, we need to do better, but within reason and with a strong consideration of whether or not we NEED to. I’m very doubtful than many cities in the world have a lot of anything that was standing in their first 173 years. In fact, I did some quick research.
The following is a list of some of the world’s greatest cities, their founding, the finishing dates of some of their most iconic structures. In the case of Houston, I chose Pennzoil Place and the Astrodome because they recently made the list of the American Institute of Architecture’s list of the 100 Most Influential American Buildings.
Some Historical Perspective (Dates according to Wikipedia)
Rome, Founded in 753 BC
Colosseum – Built in 80 AD (833 years)
St. Peter’s Basilica – Built in 1626 (2,379 years)
Paris, France
Founded 400-500 AD
The Louvre – Built in late 12th Century, opened in 1793 (roughly 1800 years)
Eifel Tower – Built in 1889 AD (2,339 years)
London, England
Founded in 43 AD
Westminster Abbey – Built in 1050 (1,617 years)
Buckingham Palace – Built in 1703 (1,660 years)
New York City, NY
Founded 1624
Statue of Liberty – Built in 1886 (262 years)
Empire State Building – Built in 1931 (307 years)
Houston, TX
Founded in 1863
Astrodome – Built in 1965 (102 years)
Pennzoil Place – Build in 1975 (112 years)
The only point I wish to make here is our need to hang onto certain buildings looks pretty silly when compared to the histories of other places around the world. We’re still a very young city, one whose no zoning plan has created a very intriguing mix of good and bad urban development. Solving any problem in Houston requires something more creative than, “It’s works in [Blank City]. The conversation about historical preservation in Houston must be looked at from a Houston perspective. If not, developers will not be the only ones with blood on their hands when the next building falls.
