Houston's Hermann Park: A Century of Community

Chapter Ten: It Happens!

Houston Statue and Lindsey Plaza, joining the spatial sequence to make a grand entrance to the park. An important part of the Grand Gateway project focuses on the live oak trees at the entrance to the park and along Main Street. Replacement of missing trees in existing oak allées adds shade for pedestrians and emphasizes this historically significant axis. Protecting these century-old trees, which have a significant environmental impact on the surrounding community, includes installation of drainage and irrigation throughout the area. These measures will safeguard the century-old trees and encourage the growth of a protective understory groundcover. Improvements will be made to entrance and exit ramps along the length of the gateway, making them accessible by the handicapped and safe for those using a variety of transportation modes. New lighting, benches, trashcans, and bike racks will encourage greater use of the gateway area. The conservancy received a $3 million matching grant from the Texas Department of Transportation’s Texas Transportation Enhancement Program for the renewal of this area in 2010. The conservancy then raised an additional $2 million needed to fund the project. Providing for future maintenance, such as seasonal annual plantings, a $1 million maintenance fund was incorporated into the project cost. The project completion date in the fall of 2013 was in time to welcome visitors to the park for a year of centennial celebrations in 2014. Bloch Cancer Survivors Plaza and Mecom–Rockwell Fountain Just east of the Mecom Fountain, to the left along the Grand Gateway, is the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Plaza (1983), designed E ven before the Houston City Council accepted the Olin master plan in 1995,2 several projects were in the works, including expansion of Miller Outdoor Theatre, the just completed Japanese Garden, and the Buddy Carruth Playground for All Children. Construction of major projects outlined in the master plan was phased over the next fifteen years, instead of the ten years hoped for by Olin. It is a great accomplishment that by 2014 eight of the ten major capital projects have been completed, along with smaller endeavors and some new ventures not foreseen in 1995. Houston did indeed come together, and funding for each project was achieved through special allocations of the Houston City Council and donations from institutional, corporate, and individual philanthropic sources. Hermann Park in 2014 is a stunning array of spaces and places that are unified by paths, sight lines, and attractive, helpful signs. Beginning at the Mecom Fountain and the entrance to Hermann Park, this chapter moves counter-clockwise through the renewed Hermann Park to emphasize both the individual character of special projects and places and the collective whole. Grand Gateway The historic entrance to Hermann Park is located at the convergence of Main Street and Montrose Boulevard on the axis of Montrose Boulevard . Anchored by two prominent Houston landmarks, the Mecom Fountain and the Sam Houston Monument, this axis lies at the physical and metaphorical cultural hub of Houston. The SWA Group of Houston designed the new gateway to Hermann Park. The renovations include an Upper Garden, Lower Garden, and Grand Gateway Promenade . Plant materials were selected to complement those at the Sam CHAPTER TEN It Happens! We were selling a dream.1 —Jane Anderson Curtis, 2012 Map of Hermann Park, 2014. Courtesy Hermann Park Conservancy. It Happens! 145 magnolia blossoms hot forged by Nick Brumbder of Ornamental Iron of Georgetown, Texas. After Richard Bloch, of H&R Block Tax Services , survived a terminal form of lung cancer, he and his wife, Annette, dedicated their lives to helping others discover the strength and hope necessary to fight cancer. From 1943 the Bloch Plaza site was a gardenesque area of Hermann Park with a small fountain that, in the 1990s, no longer functioned. When Bloch approached the city, wanting to fund a garden in Houston near the Texas Medical Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Parks Department felt this site needed rejuvenation and would be appropriate. Director Don Olson and Park Administraby architect Milosav Cekic of MC/A Architects of Austin, Texas. The triangular site of Bloch Plaza features a fountain and gazebo, specialty paving, new trees and benches, and a bronze sculpture that is common to all Bloch Gardens. The gazebo’s limestone pillars are rough at their bases and become more refined as they rise to capitals inlaid with ceramic medallions. The dome, fabricated...