I have a bunch of pictures from todays demolition, so sorry for people who have slow internet speeds.

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...herland/de.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...erland/de1.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...erland/de3.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...erland/de5.jpg''

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...erland/de6.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...erland/de7.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...erland/de9.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...rland/de10.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...rland/de11.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...rland/de12.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...rland/de14.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...rland/de15.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...rland/de16.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...rland/de18.jpg

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/c...rland/de20.jpg

Hi,
I'm a long time lurker in this forum, and I've noticed that some of you have posted links to my Flickr photos in the past. I thought I'd post my own YouTube video of the implosion here.

http://youtu.be/6Tvn9yY2BWY

What a fucking shame...

Hard to believe people applauding something so sad. But then again, most of them weren't around when this building was actually appreciated for it's architectural style.

Must have been really healthy for the people who inhaled the asbestos dust from the building.

Thats Houston for ya. Weve lost a couple of good buildings in the last year. Obviously the one today, the old YMCA building, the gutting of the amazing interior of the deco Alabama Theater; Ive never been in there but heard that they had gutted it or are gutting it. Im sure Im missing a few others, not to mention the daily demolition of old houses in the Heights area.

Well Houston isn't NYC or similar city where space and land values are high enough to justify pouring the money into restoring older buildings. This building, along with the old YMCA were simply way too expensive just to bring up to code. Far cheaper to just demo and rebuild here.

I don't really think most people in Texas really give a crap about architectural style in all honesty, especially when you consider they're very fiscally conservative and don't want to waste any "Taxpayer" money on restoring some old building.

and that's why this city has almost zero character left to it.

I wouldn't go that far...maybe not as much character as some other cities, but still up there!

I disagree.

I'm glad they are tearing down this building and the YMCA building. Both were ugly buildings, the buildings replacing them will be much better. Especially the new YMCA building.

sure, there are a few areas around the city, the heights being one of them, that still have character but Houston is largely bland due to the fact that anything is up to being bulldozed for the sake of progress. The Water Wall was even in danger of being torn down until the city stepped in and bought the property.


@ Double L, they were knocked down for surface lots. There are long term plans for new buildings on those sites but downtown is full of surface lots that once had structures cleared for development that failed to come to fruition. Remember Shamrock hotel? There's a parking lot there.

Great photos though a shame for the building. It looked pretty good.

I'm guessing this is a joke. Both replacements were built at different locations, and neither site has anything planned for the foreseeable future. Also I certainly don't share your love of the new glass box that is the YMCA building.

Are you kidding me, have you seen the new YMCA building? Its terrible looking and is only 2 stories tall. The Franzheim Building was not a gem, but it was an historic building and nearly 11 stories tall. The former location of the YMCA and the Prudential Life Building will sit as parking lots for the foreseeable future. The old YMCA spot will probably be a parking lot for decades I would imagine.

You just characterized a large part of the U.S. Perhaps it's not that way in Canada.

You can't be serious. The old Prudential Building, with the Rock of Gibraltar emblem, was a gorgeous structure in its prime.

As an aside, I saw on the news today that the main reason the building was demolished was that the foundation was failing, and it would have been prohibitively expensive to repair it, if possible at all.

^
Yes, unfortunately the foundation had settled poorly and big cracks had formed in it pretty much screwing the building. But most of the old buildings in Houston have been destroyed needlessly.

Those are simply amazing photos, PhotoLith! Too bad they are now a sad reminder of what was once a wonderful old tower... :(

That being said, I do understand that sometimes, no matter how beautiful a historic structure might be, structural problems can forcefully render them into demolition. In this case, that does appear to be the situation, unfortunately.

Aaron (Glowrock)