Zetna

Wow, a nice simple buildiing for a change!...see, nothing has to be contrived or complicated to have a nice structure!

3 story, 24k sqft office over retail building at White Settlement and Nursery.

 

 

Here is the project on the architects website

 

https://www.nilesbol...tockyards-hotel

 

 

 

Located in Fort Worth's Stockyards National Historic District, this custom 170-key hotel features 12,000 sf of function space and rooftop restaurant/bar by "urban western" celebrity chef Tim Love. The main ballroom integrates an exterior event patio and includes an old Wells Fargo vault door salvaged and reused as a focal element, paying homage to the bank formerly located on the site. An express elevator provides access to the sky lobby and rooftop bar that features a transparent roof with dynamic glass technology. A covered arcade with Alamo-inspired brick parapet faces Main Street, promoting pedestrian flow and integrating the hotel and street. Components such as a presidential suite with private terrace, access to an elevated open-air event deck and junior suites with balconies offering views towards the stockyards are atypical luxuries for the SpringHill Suites brand.

 

Oh God, this is horrible!...more of these buildings w/ terrible proportions with way too many forms and materials...and let's add on a few small mission parapet walls so it "fits in" w/ the Stockyards....what is wrong w/ a simple facade? Could the brick not go all away across? What is that weird notch out of the central vertical element? All of a sudden let's have one element of surface mounted storefront glass at the top floor ....just a hodgepodge of crap. Luckily I'm moving out of FW, so this old curmudgeon doesn't have to look at the future of bad architecture going up in all the areas I visit around downtown.

I didn't know there was a "sarcastic font"! Always learning something!

This project is getting a lot of "stink" on the Fairmount Facebook page. The owners want a change in zoning to allow a hotel. The maps are inconsistent to whether the site is within the historic district or not. The hotel will be 6 stories and 138 rooms, not exactly a "boutique hotel" (more the size of the Hilton Garden Inn at Forest Park and that's only 4 floors) and the hotel is situated between the historic Mehl and Schaefer buildings. Henderson is a major intersection w/ Magnolia for traffic in and out of the area and there are concerns for increased traffic. While people acknowledge the city is growing, most are concerned w/ the density of the structure and wish it would happen on 8th or Hemphill. IMHO if the project continues forward as planned the architecture should be impeccable as it sits between 2 historic structures. I know the architect is supposed to be one of the best in Fort Worth, but from personal experience I also know owners usually want the cheapest possible build for max. return....always a dilemma for architects.....this can't be a cheap multicolored, multi-facade, Dryvit structure that I see being built all over south Fort Worth now.

This kind of architecture is exactly what I was afraid of when it came to new development in the stockyards! Same tired plan as any suburban hotel; EIFS with some added mission style parapets. Are architects afraid of architecture w/ simple slab sides, 1-2 colors max and a few nice details? Very few buildings in the Stockyards area are in the mission style. Most are in an early 20th century commercial style. The Stockyards hotel is a nice simple building in brick w/ some great detailing towards the top. If one has to do it in EIFS on several floors how about something like the Sanger Building?...simple form, 2 colors and some nice detailing...you could put just ONE mission style parapet on it if need be and change the details to fit w/ that style......I just don't get all these convoluted forms / colors (and many times too many materials) on these new buildings. They look like overblown suburban retail strip centers.

http://www.fortworth...kyardshotel.jpg

http://www.fortworth....com/sanger.jpg

Best line from the Fort Worthology article: "Not every structure needs to cry out for your attention. Sometimes, it’s more important to simply be a good, solid building – one that engages the street and welcomes the pedestrian without trying to make a huge statement or scream “look at me!” This building's simplicity is a breath of fresh air compared to buildings such as the one Doohickie posted above that are being designed / built all over, especially south of downtown. If you look at older structures, such as the T & P station, it is a slab-sided, mono-color simple form...it only has the little domes at top in the 4 corners and some nice Art Deco detailing at the base. This is true of a lot of older structures, such as the Neil P. Anderson Building, The Electric Building and many 1-3 story structures built in the first half of the 20th century that we admire. Even the newer Omni Hotel has a prominent prow-shaped form with a couple of smaller rectangular forms that don't detract from its main shape. So, I am all for the simplicity on these Lancaster apartments...in fact, I'd simplify it even a little more as I don't think breaking it up into all those shapes was necessary, but the coloring / materials are cohesive and I do like the decorative spandrel panels that tie to the Art Deco of the T & P...add street trees and people and I think it will be just fine!

I hope if Q Hotels get the land that they build something more special than what they've built previously! We've got enough cheap suburban looking developments in suburbia.

Yes, this design is a lot better on its front / side facades compared to the one at Rosedale and Forest Park (ugh)...I'm glad they kept the design relatively simple. Some openings in the parking garage might help the rear facade.

What a stinker! They can't even match up the brick color to the old structure....passed by it today and thought the brick was a better match with a mid-70s 7-11 !

It would have been nice to take out that wall and in its place provide some retail storefronts facing Rosedale, below the residential 1st floor level.....looks like the height is there. Parking may have been a little bit of an issue,but they take care of the same problem in the west 7th area w/ its mixed use.

I think if matching brick went only as high as the Coca Cola parapet and all the way around then you could have done 1 color / material above that that could be a cheaper thing and tied the old building in better.....I do believe residential structures for hundreds of people can look nice, but this trend lately of too many forms and materials makes most of them ugly.......don't know if this is developer or architect driven.

Went in this building about 10 days ago. Beautiful open space (I'm sure it will be divided into tenant spaces), beautiful exposed concrete structure too (columns and ceiling slab). I was told the developer is getting old, reclaimed steel windows from New Jersey to replace the aluminum framed windows on the lower 2 floors!

It's awful....details are horrible when compared to the Georgian styled church....yes, very suburban....gotta love the shutter detail on the paired windows (like if they actually worked, which window half would that center shutter cover? )

mmmdan, I'll have to check that site as I was trying to find aerial photos too.

gdvanc, I think the porches were demoed in '47 as the lot is not wide enough if they were brought in...also, the style of the newer porch looks like from the late 40s - early 50s era. 

John S. I don't know why Victorian houses were so despised by the time of the 60s either.....I guess people like the clean lines of modernism and every city seemed to want to promote a modern image through urban renewal. Also, the upkeep of these places required a lot of workers / staff. I was talking to a contractor friend who went out to see it and showed him photos of what some of Fort Worth had....some of those early mansions here rivaled those in the largest cities and to think Fort Worth was just a fort some 50 years earlier! It boggles my mind! He and I also discussed how maybe it could be moved and made into a commercial space or venue of some sort that might fund restoration. Some details you might find interesting that don't show in the photos are cut or poured glass windows in the parlor, living and stair hall that depict leaves, torches, sunbursts and ribbons....also, the kitchen porch off to one side is intact so one would have patterns for columns, railings and brackets.

A photo of it in its heyday  http://fortworthtexa...20/id/175/rec/6