1.
BMA Tower
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The BMA Tower in Kansas City, Missouri, also known as One Park Place, was built as a 19-story Modern style office building. Located on a prominent height 3 miles south of downtown Kansas City, the building was planned for the Business Mens Assurance Company of America, an insurance company, on the site of the former St. Josephs Orphanage. The building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with steel-frame construction and clad in a grid of deeply inset black glass. It was the first high-rise structure in Kansas City since the building of City Hall in 1936, in design it is closely related to the First City National Bank Building in Houston, designed by Gordon Bunshaft, another SOM partner. Even more than the windows, the ground floor is deeply inset. The structure encloses 384,000 square feet, the buildings original marble cladding was replaced after several panels fell from the building in 1985 and 1986. The problem was traced to the thinness of the panels (1.25 inches, as a result of extensive investigation, the panels were replaced with neoparium, a glass product that appeared indistinguishable from marble at more than 100 feet. This failure mode was not uncommon in buildings of this era that employed thin marble cladding, several buildings, most notably the Aon Center in Chicago were re-clad with materials other than marble. The BMA Building won an Architectural Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Steel Construction, the building was sold by the BMA in 2002 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places the same year. Renamed One Park Place, it was renovated, stripped of asbestos
2.
Downtown Houston
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Downtown Houston is Houstons central business district, containing the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is a network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district. The tunnel system is home to restaurants, shops and services. What is now Downtown made up almost all of the City of Houston until expansions of the city limits in the early 20th century, Downtown Houston was the original founding point of the city. After the Texas Revolution, two New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land from Thomas F. L, parrot and his wife, Elizabeth, for $9,428. The Allen brothers first landed in the area where the White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou meet, gail Borden, Jr. a city planner, laid out wide streets for the town. The city was granted incorporation by the Texas legislature on June 5,1837, Houston was the temporary capital of Texas. In 1840, the town was divided into four wards, each with different functions in the community, by 1906 what is now Downtown was divided among six wards. The wards are no longer political divisions, but their names are used to refer to certain areas. Houston became a choice, as only the most powerful storms were able to reach the city. The second came a year later with the 1901 discovery of oil at spindletop, shipping and oil industries began flocking to east Texas, many settling in Houston. From that point forward the area grew substantially, as many skyscrapers were constructed, in the 1980s, however, economic recession canceled some projects and caused others to be scaled back, such as the Bank of the Southwest Tower. Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle wrote that Fox said that area was a neighborhood of Victorian-era homes. Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area began a downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station in 1974, the construction of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated portions of the historic Third Ward from the rest of the Third Ward and brought those portions into Downtown. Beginning in the 1960s the development of the 610 Loop caused the focus of the Houston area to move away from Downtown Houston, in the mid-1980s, the bank savings and loan crisis forced many tenants in Downtown Houston buildings to retrench, and some tenants went out of business. Barna said that this development further caused Downtown Houston to decline, the Gulf Hotel fire occurred in 1943
3.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
4.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
6.
Discovery Green
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Discovery Green is a public urban park in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. Opened in 2008, Discovery Green 11. 78-acre is located on Avenida de las Americas across from the George R. Brown Convention Center, the park includes a lake, bandstands and venues for public performances, two dog runs, a childrens area and multiple recreational areas. The park was designed by the landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates. The first event held at the park was Houston Mayor Bill Whites 2008 inauguration, the park officially opened to the public on April 13,2008. It is estimated that almost a quarter-million people visited the park between opening day and June 30,2008, the estimates were made by comparing the size of crowds with the Houston Police Departments estimate of 30,000 people who went to the park on opening day. The City of Houston acquired a portion of the land in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center in 2002, the Mayor agreed and became a strong advocate of a public-private partnership was developed for the $125 million project. Several other philanthropic foundations joined the effort, including the Wortham Foundation, with the guidance of Project for Public Spaces, the Conservancy mounted the large public meetings and smaller focus groups to solicit public feedback. This feedback became the basis for the park’s programming, Hargreaves Associates, an internationally renowned landscape architecture firm based in San Francisco, oversaw the design effort. Page designed the architecture and Larry Speck was their lead architect. Provided landscape and horticultural design services, artists Margo Sawyer and Doug Hollis were integral members of the design team and produced three works of art for the park. A large team of local and international engineers and specialists supported the design team. Elmore Public Relations was contracted for marketing and public relations, ever since the opening in 2008, the park has added upon. An estimate of $1 billion worth of buildings, offices, hotels, in 2009 the One Park Place opened. A high-end residential tower that houses 346 units, on 2011, the Hess Tower was built, a 29-story office building. On 2016, the Marriott Marquis convention hotel was built north of the park, a hotel that holds over 1,000 rooms. The park earned LEED certification in October 2009, the Kinder Foundation provided $10 million to help fund the $125 million project. Hargreaves Associates and their team of architects, engineers, and artists took thirteen months to design, notable challenges would be the dense intersection and the intricate design of implementing the garage with the surface park. The park is placed in the center of two juxtaposing cross axes, the linear plaza is lined by a multitude Mexican Sycamore trees and uniquely designed pavement
7.
Houston Press
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The Houston Press is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area, the paper is supported entirely by advertising revenue and is free to readers. The newspaper reports a readership of more than 200,000 print readers and 1.6 million online users. The Press can be found in restaurants, coffee houses, New weekly editions are distributed on Thursdays. The weekly Houston Press was founded in 1989, chris Hearne and Kirk Cypel conceived of this news and entertainment weekly after rejecting a business plan to relaunch Texas Business Magazine. Hearne was the papers first publisher and Cypel served as the organizations business advisor, although the paper faced early challenges, the landscape changed when Hearne and Cypel engineered a buyout of 713 Magazine, a key competitor. Once in control of 713, they stopped its publication and converted advertisers to the Houston Press, thereafter, the Houston Presss advertising and circulation grew dramatically. For the newspapers first five years, Niel Morgan served as the investor and it was bought out by New Times Media in 1993. In 2005, New Times acquired Village Voice Media, and changed its name to Village Voice Media, the headquarters of the Houston Press are located in Midtown Houston on LaBranch Street. Prior to 1998, the Houston Press was located in Suite 1900 of the 2000 West Loop South building in Uptown Houston, in 1998, it moved to a new location in Downtown Houston, which became the Houston Press building and was originally built in 1927. That building is in proximity to the ExxonMobil Building. Shelor Motor Company was the first occupant of the Downtown Houston building, beginning in the 1960s, it served as the Gillman Pontiac dealership building. In 1994 Suzanne Sellers painted a 50-foot by 240-foot trompe-lœil mural that is located two of the buildings sides. This mural is visible from Leeland, Milam, and Travis streets, in 2008 the Houston Press building received damage from Hurricane Ike since the hurricane caused water to go through the parking area on the buildings roof into the offices. In 2010 the Houston Press installed new energy efficient windows in place of the glass windows on the facilitys second. On the weekend after Friday October 25,2013 the Houston Press was scheduled to move to its new offices in Midtown, Houston Press Houston Press, Best of Houston issue
8.
Houston Heights
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Houston Heights is a community in northwest-central Houston, Texas, United States. The Heights is often referred to colloquially to describe a collection of neighborhoods next to. However, Houston Heights has its own history, distinct from Norhill, by 1891 millionaire Oscar Martin Carter and a group of investors established the Omaha and South Texas Land Company. The company purchased 1,756 acres of land and established infrastructure, including alleys, parks, schools, streets and utilities, when Houston Heights was founded, it was a streetcar suburb of Houston which attracted people who did not wish to live in the dense city. It had its own municipality until the City of Houston annexed the Heights in 1919, after World War II industrial interests moved into the Houston Heights. Marilyn Bardsley of Crime Library stated that the Houston Heights became decrepit, in the 1970s the Houston Heights was considered to be a low income area of the city. On December 13,1970 Dean Corll began luring and killing children from the Houston Heights as part of the Houston Child Murders, for most of the period of his crime spree, Corll lived in or close to Houston Heights as his two teenage accomplices resided there. Other teens from the area were targeted simply because the two teens knew many of them made it easier to entice them to Corlls various residences during the period. From the 1980 U. S. Census to the 1990 Census, the Houston Heights Association opened in 1973. Upscale boutiques and restaurants have opened in the area, giving the streetscape an appearance not too much unlike Bellaire, the 7, 000-square-foot former fire station at 12th Street at Yale Street was constructed as Houston Heights city hall and jail, and fire station in 1914. After annexation, it served as a city of Houston fire station from 1918 until 1995, the Houston Heights Association took a 30-year lease on the property from the city and refurbished the property. By December 2009 the former city hall was for sale, in 2013 CNN Money ranked the Houston Heights as no.4 in its Top 10 big city neighborhoods ranking. The Houston Heights, one of the earliest planned communities in Texas, is located 4 miles northwest of Downtown Houston. A National Geographic article says stroll the areas broad, tree-canopied esplanades and side streets dotted with homes dating from the early 1900s, john Nova Lomax said that the Heights, which he describes as Houstons own mini-Austin, had many low-key restaurants and beer gardens. According to a study of the University of Houston Institute of Regional Forecasting and Crawford Realty Advisors, from 2002 to 2003 prices of single family houses appreciated by 8.7 percent. Anjali Athavalley said eal estate agents say most houses there costing less than $200,000 need serious work and uying a single-family house in the Houston Heights, by 2000 Houston Heights community retained its prohibition of the sale of alcoholic beverages. Many restaurants in the zone got around the ordinance by forming private clubs that patrons may join so that the patrons can order alcoholic beverages, the Houston Fire Department operates Station 15 Heights in the Northside district, near the Houston Heights. It is a part of Fire District 6, Fire Station 15 moved to Houston Avenue and North Main in 1918 and North Main at Tabor in 1942
9.
Montrose, Houston
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Montrose is a primarily residential neighborhood located in the Neartown area of Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1911, the neighborhood is a diverse area with renovated mansions, bungalows with wide porches. Montrose has been called the Heart of Houston, the strangest neighborhood east of the Pecos, Montrose was originally envisioned as a planned community and streetcar suburb dating back to the early 20th century before the development of River Oaks. Developer J. W. Link and his Houston Land Corporation envisioned a great residential addition according to the original sales brochure. Links planning details for the area included four wide boulevards with the best curbing, Link built his own home in Montrose, known as the Link-Lee Mansion, which is now part of the University of St. Thomas campus. A streetcar, the Montrose Line, ran through the neighborhood, Link wrote, Houston has to grow. Montrose is going to lead the procession and it did, and the procession eventually continued far beyond the neighborhood. Montrose was first platted in 1911, in 1926, the Plaza Apartment Hotel, Houston’s first apartment hotel, opened on Montrose Boulevard. The hotel was home to many of Houston’s leaders, including Dr. Edgar Odell Lovett, modeled after the Ritz-Carlton in New York, the hotel cost over one million dollars to construct. The corner of Montrose and Westheimer was the site of demonstrations against the Vietnam War. And other underground newspapers throughout the area, kPFT’s transmitter was twice bombed by a local Ku Klux Klan group, making it the only radio station in the history of the United States to be blown off the air. The Bohemian flavor of the Montrose would spawn both the Westheimer Colony Art Festival in 1971 and the subsequent street fair in 1973, which would become known as the Westheimer Street Festival. Also starting around the 1970s the area known as the center for the gay. Folk music clubs like Anderson Fair and Sand Mountain catered to the scene in the neighborhood and other venues featured psychedelic rock. Later, punk and new wave clubs like The Paradise Rock Island, the Omni, Montrose has been a haven for Prohibition honkey-tonks, antique stores, wealthy socialites, motorcycle gangs, gays, harmless eccentrics and a broad array of exiles, writers, artists and musicians. It has been called a uniquely Houston kind of Bohemia, a mad mix made possible by the citys no-holds-barred, in 1991 Paul Broussard was murdered in the Montrose nightclub area. University of Houston professor Maria Gonzalez stated that With this murderpeople said, since the 1990s, Montrose has become increasingly gentrified with a trend towards remodeled and new homes, higher rents, upmarket boutiques and restaurants. On June 6,2006, a teenage MS-13 gang member named Gabriel Granillo was stabbed to death at Ervan Chew Park in the Montrose area, the 2011 novel The Knife and the Butterfly is based on this stabbing
10.
Whole Foods Market
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Whole Foods Market Inc. is an American supermarket chain exclusively featuring foods without artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, and hydrogenated fats. It opened on September 20,1980, in Austin, Texas, as of September 2015, it has 91,000 employees and 431 supermarkets in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and has its main produce procurement office in Watsonville, California. As of 2015, founder John Mackey and Walter Robb were co-CEOs of the publicly traded company, in November 2016, the company announced that Walter Robb would be stepping down as co-CEO at the end of year and would remain with the company as a director. It became a Fortune 500 company in March 2005 and is the 30th largest retailer in the U. S. based on 2014 revenue. In 1978, Mackey and Renee Lawson borrowed $45,000 from family, when the two were evicted from their apartment for storing food products in it, they decided to live at the store. Because it was zoned for use, there was no shower stall. Two years later, John Mackey partnered with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles to merge SaferWay with the latters Clarksville Natural Grocery, resulting in the opening of the original Whole Foods Market. At 10,500 square feet and with a staff of 19, the following Memorial Day, on May 25,1981, the most damaging flood in 70 years devastated Austin. Whole Foods inventory was ruined, and most of the equipment was damaged, the loss was approximately $400,000 and Whole Foods Market had no insurance. Customers, neighbors, and staff pitched in to repair and clean up the damage, creditors, vendors, and investors assisted in helping the store recover, and the store reopened 28 days later. Beginning in 1984, Whole Foods Market expanded out of Austin, first to Houston and Dallas, in 1989, the company expanded to the West Coast with a store in Palo Alto, Calif. The companys 100th store was opened in Torrance, California, in 1999, the company started its third decade with additional acquisitions. The first was Natural Abilities in 2000, which did business as Food for Thought in Northern California and this led to the promotion of three new regional presidents and a new era for the company. David Lannon became president of the Northeast region, Anthony Gilmore became president of the Southwest region, Ron Megehan became president of the Northern California region, in 2001, Whole Foods also moved into Manhattan. Later that year Ken Meyer became president of the newly formed South region and Whole Foods Market acquired the assets of Harry’s Farmers Market, in 2002, the company continued its expansion in North America and opened its first store in Toronto, Ontario. Further continuing its expansion, Select Fish of Seattle was acquired in 2003, in 2005, Whole Foods opened its 80,000 sq ft flagship store in downtown Austin. The companys headquarters moved into offices above the store, Whole Foods Markets expansion has increased the need for products and processing plants. In response, the company added its 365 Everyday Value product line and it also began to acquire seafood processing plants in 2003
