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Friday, April 12, 2013

H is for high-rise

I thought this week’s FSO was ‘Starbursts” and I planned on skipping it.  Yesterday I went on to My Town Friday's blog to see what you all have begun to post and….. ‘the first letter of your town….’ is this week’s topic.  So 24 hours of "H…is for” looking through the Houston archives.  Water and bridges, and flowers and animals – no Horses –.  Went to bed thinking I will just skip it another week.  Then woke this morning – H is for Houston High-rises – now just to find a few photos and something interesting to say…..
DSC_1713In the years since I came here in 1975, Houston has continued to grow.  At first it grew outward, a maze of freeways connecting on area of the city with another.   In 1975 we lived first in an a 2 story apartment complex off Wilcrest then in a a one level house out off the beltway 8 and Hammerly.  Beltway 8 was a two lane, paved road with open drainage on each side. By 1990 the beltway was a 6 lane toll road with two lanes either side.  Now it is 8 lanes with 3 lanes either side.  The city continued to expand outward.   The 610 was an outer loop and now is the inner loop.  And inside the 610 the housing and businesses have begun to go upward.  In the early 90s there were two high-rise condo in the Galleria area and now that whole area is all buildings, residential and commercial, over 6 stories.DSC_1790 
Downtown Houston is still confined between the intersection of highway 59 / I10 and 45.  In order to grow, they have continued to tear down older buildings (from the 60 & 70s)  and to go higher.  The skyline is modern and beautiful.  And no I don’t have a DSC_1867photo of the skyline.  I have driven into the downtown hundreds of times but never stopped for a photo, but I do have a few close up shots that help you see how high the towers have gotten in downtown Houston.
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