That's right - this project is back and underway. Schwarz-Hanson is redoing the former Transport Life Building, and it'll be reopening as office space once more. Opening date is set for summer 2008.
The project now has a web site, but for the moment it's just a teaser:
http://www.714main.com
I realize there's a thread about this building already, but it's in the Residential forum and isn't related to the new development. Perhaps they need to be merged, or the old one could just die off?
714 Main/Farmers & Mechanics National Bank/Kimpton Hotel
#1
Posted 19 April 2007 - 08:11 PM
--
Kara B.
#2
Posted 08 September 2007 - 06:05 AM
Here's the link to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article: http://www.star-tele...ory/227952.html
#3
Posted 08 September 2007 - 10:30 AM
On the flip side, the more office space they buy, the tighter the downtown leaseable market gets!
#4
Posted 08 September 2007 - 11:09 AM
#5
Posted 08 September 2007 - 11:13 AM
#6
Posted 08 September 2007 - 04:29 PM
#7
Posted 08 September 2007 - 07:36 PM
--
Kara B.
#8
Posted 10 September 2007 - 12:31 PM
#9
Posted 05 November 2007 - 02:23 PM
#10
Posted 28 January 2008 - 05:20 PM
I've attached a Pic I took Sunday morning at dawn. Was taking a photo of the low clouds blowing through and noticed all the lights on in their building.
What a grand building. And can't think of a better company to own it. XTO means first class in my book. I could not be more grateful to them for what they have done for Fort Worth.
#11
Posted 28 January 2008 - 06:33 PM
#12
Posted 28 January 2008 - 06:39 PM
#13
Posted 28 January 2008 - 06:51 PM
#14
Posted 29 January 2008 - 11:22 AM
Thanks for nice comment!
I do have a few more from Sunday morning, thanks for asking!
(Was going to post to photo area, but the page was so heavy with pics I couldn't get to the bottom)
#15
Posted 29 January 2008 - 03:18 PM
#16
Posted 29 January 2008 - 07:00 PM
So I'm not the only one enjoying my Ridley Scott Definitive Final Cut DVD
#17
Posted 30 January 2008 - 02:42 PM
I'm still trying to get a shot with all of the first 5 or so floors blanketed with fog, can never get a solid fog bank, it's always hazy or fuzzy, those shots are as close as I've seen so far.
Better Business Bureau: A place to find or post valid complaints for auto delerships and maintenance facilities. (New Features) If you have a valid gripe about auto dealerships, this is the place to voice it.
#18
Posted 16 February 2008 - 07:03 PM
#19
Posted 16 February 2008 - 08:29 PM
--
Kara B.
#20
Posted 18 February 2008 - 09:39 AM
I have a November 07 pic and a Saturday pic for you. I did not notice a thing until you mentioned this, is the punchline. (Woops, I got that pretty rainbow in my Pic...)
New:
Old:
#21
Posted 18 February 2008 - 09:49 AM
#22
Posted 01 May 2008 - 12:26 PM
Anyway, some of the glass has been removed, and they are removing the structure that held the previous facade. The best thing about it is that you can see what I believe to be the original arches, with details visible. I know there was a previous renovation which placed blue tile around the building's base, but these look to be remnants of the original arches.
Get over there and check it out if you're interested.
#23
Posted 01 May 2008 - 01:45 PM
Anyway, some of the glass has been removed, and they are removing the structure that held the previous facade. The best thing about it is that you can see what I believe to be the original arches, with details visible. I know there was a previous renovation which placed blue tile around the building's base, but these look to be remnants of the original arches.
Get over there and check it out if you're interested.
I took a shot of the Transport Life Building on Sunday night. I posted in the photography section (Dallas & Fort Worth Urban photos) on April 28, 2008.
Would include the link but I think I am not allowed to double post.
#24
Posted 01 May 2008 - 02:21 PM
Anyway, some of the glass has been removed, and they are removing the structure that held the previous facade. The best thing about it is that you can see what I believe to be the original arches, with details visible. I know there was a previous renovation which placed blue tile around the building's base, but these look to be remnants of the original arches.
Get over there and check it out if you're interested.
I intend to get some shots of it tonight. The current facade is '80s vintage, I believe, and only partially accurate to the way the building originally looked. It was more ornate originally, and featured a grand entrance on Main.
I had not heard officially that XTO would be restoring the original base, but I'm not surprised.
--
Kara B.
#25
Posted 01 May 2008 - 02:46 PM
I'm going to stop by right after work to take a look this afternoon, but I don't have my camera with me.
#26
Posted 01 May 2008 - 07:49 PM
Here's the scoop. Each facade was basically placed over the older one. However, the 1950's mosaic tile version required the removal of all building elements that projected from the main face of the wall. So, only parts of the original building remain. The 1988 remodel was literally built out in front of the 1950's remodel, so very little modifications had to be done to the 2nd wall of the building. Right now, you can actually see all three facades of the base at once. Hopefully, Atomic will get some good photos tonight. I will try to get some this weekend, but I will be busy with Art's funeral.
#27
Posted 02 May 2008 - 12:04 AM
Here is what I found interesting: The lights inside the building were left on thus allowing one to be able to see inside through some of the windows in the base. If you look into the some of the windows toward the southern end of the Main Street facade, you can see that some of the interior floor between the second and third stories has been removed. In some windows, when one looks into the second story window, one sees the ceiling of that same story. In other second story windows once sees the third story ceiling. Unfortunately, there was no way to see into the first floor so I have no way of knowing in those portions where the second story ceiling had been removed whether the first floor ceiling had been removed as well. But looking through the second and third story windows, it looks like they might perhaps be recreating a mezzanine.
Does anyone know if the original building had a mezzanine? If so, did the open area go all the way from the ground floor to what is today the third floor? Anyone know if the plans are to recreate the original lobby or at least the floor plan of the original lobby?
#28
Posted 02 May 2008 - 09:15 AM
--
Kara B.
#29
Posted 02 May 2008 - 09:57 AM
#30
Posted 02 May 2008 - 12:23 PM
#31
Posted 02 May 2008 - 12:26 PM
Now that's a crowd!
www.iheartfw.com
#32
Posted 02 May 2008 - 12:57 PM
#33
Posted 02 May 2008 - 01:08 PM
I think you are referring to the Aviation Building... which coincidentally was right across the street.
#34
Posted 02 May 2008 - 01:11 PM
I haven't been able to find this thread with the search. Does anyone recall its context (or have other ideas for keywords)?
#35
Posted 02 May 2008 - 01:29 PM
The thread: Old Fort Worth Building Architectural Elements Sculptures, Romanesque Guards Mask
#36
Posted 02 May 2008 - 01:35 PM
The thread: Old Fort Worth Building Architectural Elements Sculptures, Romanesque Guards Mask
Well, it looks like I stand corrected. Someone tell XTO, I'm sure they'd like to replicate them.
#37
Posted 02 May 2008 - 01:46 PM
As for the thread with the interior shots, you guys don't do a thorough enough search. I typed in "Transport Life" and found the thread within a few minutes. Here's the link:
http://www.fortworth...=Transport Life
#38
Posted 03 May 2008 - 01:19 AM
Replicate them? Perhaps they would like to ACQUIRE them so the originals could be put back up where they belong. Wouldn't that be neat? Perhaps someone on this board knows someone associated with XTO and can point them to JohnErik's posting.
#39
Posted 03 May 2008 - 09:14 AM
--
Kara B.
#40
Posted 03 May 2008 - 11:56 AM
www.iheartfw.com
#41
Posted 03 May 2008 - 04:58 PM
I wonder if the people who were responsible for it are still around and, if so, what they think about people spending a great deal of money, effort and love in order to undo their vandalism. Do they realize that they had zero taste? Perhaps they will say that it was merely the trend of the times. I respond by saying that is a pathetic excuse. Should popular taste ever sink down to the levels that it did in the 1960s and 1970s - well, I for one will NOT participate in the trend. If 1970s stuff were to come back in fashion, I will NOT dress in the freakish ways that people did back then and I will NOT buy furniture that is equally ugly and in equally bad taste. If someone wishes to call me a fuddy duddy or "square" or "old fashioned" - well, I have a bit more self-esteem and intellectual self-confidence than to be cowed by such mindless attempts at intimidation. And if someone destroys something that is attractive in order to make it ugly because that is what "sells" or is the fad of the moment - well, I for one will not hesitate to identify exactly what is taking place in the most candid and blunt way possible.
One of the very worst examples that comes to mind still remains uncorrected - and probably will for some time due to the sad state of the economy in the city where it is located - is the Alico Building in Waco. Here is what it looked like when it was built:
Here is what the tasteless sheep trying to be "hip" "trendy" and "mod" did to it:
That is beyond disgusting. It is disgusting and in bad taste now and it was disgusting and in bad taste when it was done, the fact that it was 1960 something and there was LSD in the water supply notwithstanding.
Fortunately, they only botched up the lower floors - either they were too cheap to do the rest or else they figured that the intended audience was too stupid to look upward and realize that they were looking at a building that was "old" and therefore bad. Here is a color picture of what the top of the building looks like - and it gives an idea of what the base depicted in the black and white photo might have looked like:
Thank goodness for companies such as XTO. Someone in that organization has VERY good taste and gets it.
#42
Posted 04 May 2008 - 11:57 AM
I have a correction here. The blue tiles on the Transport Life Building are not the same as what was put on Montgomery Ward in the 1960s. The Montgomery Ward renovation was done with blue glazed brick. The blue on the Transport Life is a mosaic tile that appears to be 4" x 4". These are completely different materials, but they are of the same era. I agree with you that I don't care for these 1950's or 1960's renovations. They are not even compatible with the remainder of the building.
As for your theories on the Alico Building, both of your assumptions are probably correct. Usually, companies didn't have enough money to cover up an entire building, so the just did the base. I also agree with you that they probably thought that most people did not look up.
Your detail show me something I have never noticed before on it. The terra cotta shields just below the cornice on the long side of the building have these letters on them A, L, I, C, O. On the short side of the building the letters read A, L, I, Co.
I've mentioned this before, but have any of you noticed that our Burk Burnett Building looks like a smaller, but different color schemed version of Alico? Both buildings were designed by Fort Worth's Sanguinet & Staats. The Burk Burnett Building is an almost exact copy of another Sanguinet design in San Antonio, called the Rand Building.
#43
Posted 04 May 2008 - 01:30 PM
www.iheartfw.com
#44
Posted 04 May 2008 - 04:50 PM
I noticed that once when I was in San Antonio - I did a double take when I saw it.
John, do you have any sort of ballpark guess as to what it would cost to properly restore the base of the Alico? If not, do you think your contact at XTO might be able to make an educated guess based on their past experience in this area? Obviously the cost would depend on how much remains under the ugly panels - so any guess would most likely be a range depending on what's left.
#45
Posted 07 May 2008 - 02:13 PM
One thing I noticed, when you get up under the trees on the north facade in the corner between the fencing and the parking garage, you can really see how the texturing and the colors are a dead on match to the head sculptures discussed elsewhere. Not that any further verification was required.
What I can't wait to see is how they are going to restore the base. Will they be able to salvage/reuse what is left of the original facade? Or is it too far gone, and will they have to recreate it. Or did they even know it was there and now that it has been discovered is there a change in plans? And if anyone knows the answer... post it I guess, although it will sort of ruin the fun of watching! I love XTO urban archaeology.
#46
Posted 07 May 2008 - 04:32 PM
--
Kara B.
#47
Posted 09 May 2008 - 12:08 PM
Nice.
I suppose at least some of them should probably be burned in effigy. Let them represent bad taste, bad design... something along those lines. Maybe I'd better go snag some, too, and get on that.
#48
Posted 13 May 2008 - 08:38 PM
#49
Posted 14 May 2008 - 06:19 AM
I'd just like to go on record as saying that I thought the existing facade, while not nearly as cool as the original, was one of the better makeovers downtown. It certainly beat the stuff that had been done to several of the other older buildings downtown. That said, I'm excited to see it getting restored to original (hopefully).
#50
Posted 14 May 2008 - 08:23 AM
--
Kara B.
0 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users