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Location: The land of sugar... previously Houston and Austin
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OyCrumbler
Just scout around on google maps and you'll see just how much space surface lots still take in the downtown area.
I did, trying to find any of those buildings in the old photo. Upon looking at the aerial views on Google, I noticed even that view is at least a few years old and outdated as far as construction in downtown Houston.
Yes, but most of those parking lots are on the southern and western part of downtown and are also disappearing quickly. The parking lots just kind of surround downtown and the skyline just keeps eating up these blank lots as it expands. If anything, it just shows how much more room Houston's CBD has to expand inside the downtown loop. Your not going to find a parking lot in the central or northwest part of downtown. That's really one of the densest concentrations of office space in the country. Besides, even Google maps image is old. All the parking lots around Discovery Green (a fairly small but new park in the southwest part of of downtown) have been turned into skyscrapers, parks, low rise buildings, etc.
Great post! BTW, that picture of Houston is VERY dated. Is that photo from 70's? It's missing about half of our current downtown! It doesn't even look like the Chase Bank Tower had been built yet. Most of those parking lots have been filled in with skyscrapers, although, we do still have a quite few parking lots downtown. Here's a better picture of our current downtown:
The nice shiny modern building in the middle I believe is called City Center (although I could be wrong) and it's currently under construction. As you can see, a lot of density as well as a nice mix of historical and modern buildings. I really like skylines like Houston's and Philly's where you can tell how the architectural styles have changed over the years. I would make the argument that Houston has the densest downtown of the Sun Belt cities, but I'm not sure how it would match up to Philly's if we're talking JUST CBDs. I've never been to Philly so it's hard for me to make the comparison.
Thanks. I knew it had to be off by a lot, but I couldn't find another picture from above H-town's skyline quickly enough.
Just based on number of tall towers, Houston probably beats Philadelphia for the reasons I mentioned earlier. But really, in terms of skyline age, Philly's and Houston's are somewhat similar. A lot of Houston's prestige towers got built in the 1980s and some in the 1990s (Enron towers complex, for one). Philly's got built mostly in late 1980s and in 1990s. Not to say there aren't old buildings-- Philadelphia likely has many more buildings from earlier in the 20th century in its downtown-- Philadelphia has made it an art form to save old, beautifully detailed buildings and repurpose them depending on local market conditions.
I was last in downtown Houston in July '09, and made it a point to spend some time in and around the new Discovery Garden. That's such a huge positive change for downtown Houston--moreso than any skyscraper, because it is a great amenity for people to move to downtown and live there. Well, Philadelphia has such parks in its downtown area for a long time now, so you can imagine the feel of the place when you're there. I'm just giving you an idea of what the nature of downtown Philly is since you've never been-- you should definitely make a trip. It being a poorer city, there certainly are some blocks that are unsavory though not unsafe (I'm talking about Market Street east of City Hall)...unfortunately, that's the main street connecting the convention center to the historic sites of Old City--Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, etc. At one point, it used to be lined with the biggest and best department stores and other retail (SF's Market Street was named and designed after Philly's, to give you an idea). But deindustrialization and suburban growth (especially that of King of Prussia Mall) has had an impact on downtown shopping.
Even so, the urban fabric is there, and so is the more human scale compared to downtown Houston. For example, the streets aren't mini-highways like some streets are in downtown Houston (with multiple and wide one-way lanes)... Fannin St for example. Hobby Convention Center is kind of a chore to get to, though now that the Discovery Garden and the Toyota Center arena got built, the city seems to have filled in around the Convention Center. In Philadelphia, the convention center is smack dam in the middle of town, a mere two blocks or less from City Hall. And everything's so dense and packed-in.
Houston around the downtown freeway loop has really built up a lot of new residential capacity. Everything from high rises to low rises... townhomes, condos, garden-style apartment complexes. The drive down to Medical Center now feels like a more gradual city driving instead of an abrupt "leaving downtown" feel. Well, you get that feel in Philadelphia, except it is totally seamless. 100-year old neighborhoods with original cobble-stone streets are walking distance from the financial district core. The nation's oldest continuously used residential street (Elfreth's Alley) is also within "downtown" in Old City.
In one word-- density. It's not overpowering quite like NYC, but it's there. Some people like the urban core to be dense but if you don't like it, you might not like downtown Philadelphia. But I think you just might! I last visited in March '09 and had a blast.
In many ways, Houston and Philly both have a reputation of being blue-collar (compared to Dallas and NYC, respectively). So while the two cities are very different in history and culture and population and many other things, they people in both towns are proud of what they've achieved and are happy to show you around instead of show you off! hehe
The nice shiny modern building in the middle I believe is called City Center (although I could be wrong) and it's currently under construction.
It's called MainPlace.
And between Downtown Houston, and Center City Philly, I prefer Philly, but from both cities skylines, I prefer Houston. I mean Houston has 3 skylines to match up against Philly, and is better. Just IMO...
Last edited by SouthmoreAve; 02-01-2010 at 05:12 PM..
Yes, but most of those parking lots are on the southern and western part of downtown and are also disappearing quickly. The parking lots just kind of surround downtown and the skyline just keeps eating up these blank lots as it expands. If anything, it just shows how much more room Houston's CBD has to expand inside the downtown loop. Your not going to find a parking lot in the central or northwest part of downtown. That's really one of the densest concentrations of office space in the country. Besides, even Google maps image is old. All the parking lots around Discovery Green (a fairly small but new park in the southwest part of of downtown) have been turned into skyscrapers, parks, low rise buildings, etc.
Do you mean the eastern parts of downtown? On google maps, it looks like the western part is actually more built up while the eastern parts closer to route 59 has larger swaths of surface lots. Houston's downtown is the I-10 to the north, I-45 to the west and southwest, and route 59 to the east and southeast, right?
Do you mean the eastern parts of downtown? On google maps, it looks like the western part is actually more built up while the eastern parts closer to route 59 has larger swaths of surface lots. Houston's downtown is the I-10 to the north, I-45 to the west and southwest, and route 59 to the east and southeast, right?
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BTW, that picture of Houston is VERY dated. Is that photo from 70's? It's missing about half of our current downtown! It doesn't even look like the Chase Bank Tower had been built yet. Most of those parking lots have been filled in with skyscrapers, although, we do still have a quite few parking lots downtown. Here's a better picture of our current downtown:
I last visited in March '09 and had a blast.