Astrowomb
Late 1964
Early 1965
On Memorial Day, I concluded my column with this unrelated note on a new article about the Astrodome:
… and while we’re at it, let’s also “Remember the Astrodome” beyond today and into all the tomorrows that shall ever be. A writer named Jere Longman has written one of the best articles we’ve ever seen this morning on why the grand old girl of Houston’s place in architectural history should be spared the ignominy of the wrecking ball. We also want to thank friends Tal Smith and Darrell Pittman for alerting The Pecan Park Eagle to the story. The Astrodome truly is – Houston’s Eiffel Tower.
Check it out:
Longman’s essay makes the case for saving the Astrodome better than any other I’ve seen to date. The author makes the case for how important the venue was to his family in childhood when they made those special trips from Louisiana to Houston for the experience of watching air-conditioned baseball indoors, but he also builds on the special place that the Astrodome holds in architectural history.
Quoting James Glassman, a Houston preservationist, Longman calls the Astrodome “the city’s Eiffel Tower” and the “physical manifestation of Houston’s soul.” He adds that New York could afford to tear down old Yankee Stadium, according to Glassman, because the Big Apple had hundreds of other signature landmarks. Not Houston. No matter how shabby it now appears in the darkness of abandonment from useful purpose, the Astrodome bears a patina of importance to the history of architecture that the shiny presence of its Reliant Stadium nearby neighbor shall never carry, even if it gets another three Super Bowl awards over the next forty years.
The value of the Astrodome is in what it represents in Houston to the history and forever unfolding future of architecture in this whole world. You don’t take the wrecking ball to the Eiffel Tower equivalent on our hallowed Texas coastal prairie.
The Astrodome must be redeveloped in service to some new purpose. There is no other viable option. Anything less, demolition or the degrading continuation of subsidized abandonment, is unacceptable.
How we answer this question now is then a referendum on Houston as either a world class or no class city. There are no intermediate categories. Restore this grand old girl to some useful new purpose and we are world-class. Tear it down, or continue to subsidize decay, and we are rightfully deserving of the “no class” designation.
Houston did not rise in the world by being a “sit-on-its-rump” do nothing city when it came to economic development through the port, oil, medical, and aerospace industries. And thousands became monetarily rich in the process. Now its time for those who have “done well” to rise above their “make-more-parking-spaces-of-it” mentalities and apply that vision and wealth to the matter of saving the Astrodome for its historical and ongoing value to the world.
If you are going to spend your time, effort, and money for anything worthwhile, folks, please do something this important for history. Save the Astrodome now – and spare the City of Houston the no-can-do/ no class assignation we shall both earn and deserve should we fail in this matter.
Now please go back to the link to Jere Longman’s article from the New York Times and read it again.
Please. Before it really is too late.
Houston, Baseball, & Other Musings.
The Pecan Park Eagle 