No human being is illegal (mural)

No human being is illegal (mural on Fulton Street) near the erstwhile Donerakis

Ningun Ser Humano Es Ilegal (No Human Being Is Illegal) 

Revention (not Invention) at Bayou Place

Following a change in corporate sponsorship, the performance venue at Bayou Center that had been known as the Verizon Wireless Theater is now Revention Music Center.  

Revention Music Center 

 520 Texas St, Houston, TX 77002

Live at Bayou Place 

Read press release here ("HOUSTON, Aug. 11, 2015 / PRNewswire -- Live Nation Entertainment and Revention today announced a new multi-year naming rights deal to the premier indoor music theater located in downtown Houston. The new venue name is Revention Music Center.")

BELOW: ARCHIVAL PIC OF BAYOU PLACE PERFORMANCE VENUE WHEN IT WAS KNOWN AS VERIZON WIRELESS THEATER  

Downtown Street Beautification - New Banners on Milam Street

BELOW: WITNESSING THE BANNER-HANGING

New vertical banners being installed 

This is another example of street art on Milam. Unfortunately, the large mural-like paintings that were on display on the row of old buildings on the West side of the 100 Block of Milam Street have been removed. See archival pic below. Also see One Ten Milam and Blaffer Art Museum at UHD. 

One Ten Milam Building with large-mural-like paintings hung on facade 

Concrete Jungle and more City Hall Art:

If you fail to see the jewel in the junk, there is always City Hall itself as an object of aesthetic appreciation that has stood the test of times.

It may not be everyone's piece of tea to sip and savor, but there it is, -- ready to raise eyebrows, and spur white and gray matter activity. That opening sentence may mix metaphors, but that should be no cause for offense when it comes to commenting on demonstrative art consisting of a hodge-podge of re-purposed materials and debris.

Patrick Renner Art Exhibits 

And for those who  find themselves challenged when it comes to appreciation of abstract modern art, not to mention distilling the aesthetics from objects consisting of discarded materials and sundry items of junk, there is always City Hall itself, built with federal funds in the 1930s, and functional for decades. At least as a building.

City Hall seen from Plaza in front of Central Library

It's actually quite artistic, especially once you look at the details, the reliefs on the sandstone, and the imagery on the aluminum portals.

South Portal of City Hall facing Hermann Square 

Heads of important people that have come before, people of historic significance and of epic proportions. Nothing of the sort is evoked by the current collection of art objects on display outside, but a commentary on the post-millennial city it is nonetheless; -- especially the piece consisting of the uprooted and inverted metal poles with the chunk of concrete that went into the hole still attached. Aptly titled "Concrete Jungle". 

"Concrete Jungle" - Art work by Patrick Renner

Michael Macedo Meazell: Art work titled "Steadfast" 

Hermann Square Park with reflection pool that does double-duty as a
bathing facility for the homeless during the scorching Houston summer. 

Like City Hall, the reflection pool has practical functionality also. It serves not only as a bird bath, but as a cooling and cleaning facility for the City's plentiful homeless. If only city leaders had the wisdom and foresight to also erect Texas Outhouses to direct the flow generated by the park's most loyal constituency in a sanitary fashion. If it is feasible in Memorial Park, and on innumerable construction sites in the Central Business District and elsewhere, why not around City Hall? 

It might even make the appreciation of the art at the park -- whether contemporary or yesteryears' -- all the more enjoyable. In the hot summer heat.  

Rusty Steam Engine cloaked in white sheets

THE NAU CENTER EXHIBIT THAT'S NOT BEING EXHIBITED 

Southern Pacific Locomotive No. 982 under wraps

The old Southern Pacific steam engine was donated decades ago and used to be parked on the shore of the lake in Hermann Park, quietly rusting away. It was only recently that it has been "gift-wrapped"; -- at its current interim resting place between the GRB Convention Center and the MinuteMaid Stadium. Presumably, it's all for good: To keep it from crumbling, while the Nau Center for Texas Cultural Heritage, of which it was to be an exhibit, is on hold. In the meantime, the conventioneers and sundry out-of-towners must be wondering what's hidden under the big white sheets.  

The tourists must be wondering what's been hidden inside 

 Southern Pacific Locomotive No. 982 under wraps 

and in limbo (above); undergoing conservation

work in June 2014 (below). 

Locomotive with scaffolding before the wrapping: Summer 2014 

ARCHIVAL STEAM ENGINE PIC 

Southern Pacific Railroad Logo on RR Bridge in Memorial Park 

Meanwhile nearby another truly historic piece - a piece of significant architecture, rather than locomotive engineering - has been demolished: The Incarnate Word Academy Building, dating from 1905. 

  

At least the old house on Nau Center grounds itself has been spared such an ignominious fate. It sits there patiently, awaiting much-needed restoration work, with a section tarped (unlike the locomotive, its cover is black) and the chimney shored up ... while the high-rise residential and hotel construction frenzy proceeds unabated nearby. 

That Old House in front of the Minute Maid Ballpark 

Historic Houston Architecture Destroyed this year (2015)

BAD SISTER ACT OF THE YEAR:  

THEY HAD THIS ARCHITECTURAL GEM TORN DOWN 
IN THE SUMMER OF 2015

Historic Incarnate Word Catholic School Building
[demolished this year] 

Facade detail 

600 Crawford St - Houston TX 77002 - Incarnate Word Academy
Old building with new school build around it prior to demolition. 

The best piece is gone, leaving a void   

THE ICONIC GLASSELL SCHOOL OF ARTS BUILDING 

IN THE MUSEUM DISTRICT 

DEMOLISHED IN THE NAME OF EXPANSION 

South facade of glass-and-concrete Glassell School of Art Building
seen from the Cullen Sculpture Garden shortly before demolition in Sep. 2015 

HCC'S MULTI-COLORED HOUSE ON ALMEDA AT ALABAMA 
DEMOLISHED IN AUGUST 2015 AFTER THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE 
CRITICIZED THE COLLEGE BOARD'S REAL ESTATE VENTURES  

In better new for historic preservation, the vintage Axelrad Building, on the West side of Almeda at the same intersection,  is being saved, and redeveloped into a beer garden.
--> Axelrad Beer Garden Conversion

Murals that we lost ... Early Houston, Love, and Hope ....

Mural at former Houston Club Building (demolished)
framing Cameron/JPMorgan Chase Park 

"Love You" mural on back side  of Midtown strip mall building on Travis St.
that has since been demolished

Wild version of East wall of restaurant/club property that used to be Mango's
on Lower Westheimer at Taft (murals framing patio area still there)

Original Obama 2008 Campaign mural on West Alabama
at the Breakfast Klub

AND ONE THAT'S FADING: THE PACMAN MURAL 

Mural on back wall of building that houses

Eighteen Twenty Lounge and Joystix Classic Games and Pinballs 

1820 Franklin St Houston, TX 77002

H-Town Murality

Diversity thru the Arts: Mural on North wall of Midtown Arts Center 

Looking West: The faces on the Numbers Club Wall 

Different sorts of faces on West Alabama Clinic 

Girl on grass on Taft Street at intersection with Westheimer 

Mural-gazing while street-walking in Montrose 

High End Bear 

The long hot dog in the grass, with tattoos, heading South  

Assorted animals, black & white bird gazing West