....um, the empire strikes back??
Lone Star Creamery Co., c. 1936

Barker Brothers Studio (Houston's leading interior designers), c. 1931


Settegast Estate Building, c. 1939 (endangered)

This building housed Houston's Orange Crush bottling plant from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. HISD owns the vacant building, which is on the proposed site of the new High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Humble Oil & Refining Co. Filling Station No. 179. c. 1930

Its only surviving "sibling" can be seen here.

I've been yearningly (
achingly) looking at the
Houston Deco picture of this fantastic, vintage service station for at least a year now. I nearly made it by
last time. But it's located in what is sort of a "bad" neighborhood, and I was unsure about whether or not I wanted to attempt a quick picture. This trip, I arrived in Houston, early in the morning,
and it was fairly cold (30s). So I had this place (and pretty much the entire street) to myself. I was practically skipping. Good thing nobody saw me....

It's astonishing either of these (the building or sign) are still there. I was giddy when finding both. "
This is why I do this," I thought to myself. Note the
Omega Man-esque quality of the street.


Houston Fire Station No. 11, c. 1937
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
1102-1106 Yale St., c. 1936

According to the
Houston Deco page on this building, its historic names included: ABC Stores, Rettig's Heap-o-Cream, Henke & Pillot, Ivy-Russell Ford, and Eckerd Pharmacy. Rettig's Heap-o-Cream had at least one other Houston location of which I'm aware, and pictures of it can be seen
here.

The Heights Theater, c. 1929, remodeled in 1935
Gulf Coast Deco
Gulf Coast Deco II
Gulf Coast Deco III
Gulf Coast Deco IV
Gulf Coast Deco VI
Gulf Coast Deco VII
Gulf Coast Deco VIII
Gulf Coast Deco IX
Gulf Coast Deco X
4 comments:
The Heights Theatre is completely awesome. I wonder what it looked like before the remodel.
It is a beautiful, balanced little building. Aesthetically perfect, if that's possible. I wouldn't be surprised if there are pictures of it, pre-remodel, on the Internet, but I haven't found them. I do know a fire motivated the cosmetic changes.
If I had just bothered to Google, I needn't have wondered:
http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/heights.html
I prefer the remodel to the Alamo style for sure! As of late 2008, it was for sale for a mere $1.3 mil.
It's another great set of photos. The theater caught my eye first; now I have to go back and take a closer look at all the other old gems.
And I feel like a moron, because that's the very website which has inspired this entire photo-hunting quest I've been on for Art Deco structures in Houston. I guess I forgot about that picture of the Heights. Maybe it's because I'm not nearly as interested in Alamo style, either. I wonder if we could get a loan from any bank these days...
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