Inspired, as well as educated, by the fantastic Houston Deco website and armed with a Garmin, I have been able to locate the following examples of vintage, Art Deco architecture in Houston (and I hope to get more):
Humble Oil Filling Station No. 157, built in 1930
This is one of two Art Deco, Humble filling stations left in the city of Houston to date from the 1930s. The architect, John F. Staub, designed the prototype for all new Humble Oil stations in 1929. I'm always amazed this kind of thing is still around.
Originally a place called Albritton's Eats, this is from 1945, and the streamlined detailing is still intact:
Even with a GPS, this next place was tricky to find. I'd given up on it after the GPS sent me in a bizarre circular pattern, which I repeated, just for good measure. But I caught it peripherally as I drove past it and nearly slammed on my brakes.
Rettig's Heap-o-Cream, built in 1947
Built in 1935, this endangered structure was the Sterling Laundry and Cleaning Co. Most people would easily recognize this as being "Art Deco." What a thrill it's still there!
3 comments:
Howdy. I think your blog is great! I take long roadtrips and love these kind of places. I've posted a few similar places on my Eccentric Roadside blog: http://eccentricroadside.blogspot.com/2008/04/sublimely-mundane.html
and
http://eccentricroadside.blogspot.com/2008/05/roadtrip-journal-blackfoot-idaho.html
Check them out some time. Keep up the good blogging!
Gunnar Johnson
Thanks, Gunnar. I appreciate it. I like your blog, too!
sadly, the Sterling Laundry and Cleaning structure have gone down to make room for a new Metro Rail Station, from what I heard.
But I also thought I had read that Metro was going to use the building for said Station. Maybe I read that they were going to use the LAND.
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