The Savoy (1616 Main St.), one of the half dozen or so derelict high- and midrises in southwestern downtown, is to be imploded tomorrow next Friday in an emergency demolition, according to HPD public affairs officer Victor Senties. The building was found to be structurally unsound and must come down at once, he said, and added that more details are forthcoming from officials from Metro, HPD and the Houston Fire Department at a press conference to be held at 3 p.m. today near the building. But not too near, we’re guessing.
The Savoy is two buildings in one. The older section was built in 1906 and was the first public building in the city to have electricity. The yellow, mid-century modern addition was added in 1961. (The smaller section, on the left in the above picture, is the one going down.)
Hair Balls has mixed feelings about this. It’s sad to see one of
the city’s very first skyscrapers go, but even in spite of our
downright minuscule engineering knowledge, even we could say that the
1906 Savoy was, how shall we put this…falling the fuck down. It made
us nervous every time we walked it in our parking lot — directly
across Travis Street — to enjoy a cigarette. All the same, it’s gonna
be weird having just a bigger piece of sky to look at back there.
Update: Tomorrow’s News Today!!! Our cover from Craig Malisow’s above-linked story on the downtown eyesores:
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2009.
