The original Texas Theater was built circa 1931-1932. Can't say when it closed. The building has been repurposed and is now the Texas Theater Ballroom. Pharr, Texas. 7.6.2017.

RIP Matt's Cash n Carry

 

Photo was taken 6 days before this place burned down to the ground. It was very sad to see it gone completely.

A few things are starting to bloom.

 

Family Halictidae

 

DSC_0671

DSC_0667

The second floor is half done in this picture (all you see is what's

built. Two more floors identical to this one, then the building's crown

and signature signage.

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Still plenty to do. It needs some interior supports near the top, and the

roof is completely missing. The loading dock needs stairs, and the front

display windows are currently empty.

This was a wonderful hardware store that closed several years ago. It was built in 1882. It was converted to beautiful loft apartments.

The Texan was a small mid 20th Century hotel on US Route 281 which runs from the US/Mexico border to the US/Canada border. The hotel was air conditioned and had it's own restaurant. The figure of a cowboy twirling a neon lariat around his waist was mounted on top of the sign tower when the hotel was still operational. It's used for retail space today.

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The cafe opened in 1939 and its' banquet room (where the woman is standing) was an early HEB Grocery store perhaps also from the 1930s. The sign is a replica of the original. Tasty Mexican or American food.

A survivor of the freeze. It was already flowering days later.

 

Drummond's Hedgenettle

Stachys drummondii

Natchez Trace Parkway at Pharr Mounds

for San Rey Produce of Pharr, TX.

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Smile! It confuses people!

Natchez Trace Parkway near Pharr Mounds

It has been closed for maybe 8 years

Scaled for reference.

Amber Ybarra posing in a black leather jacket!

Loading dock and complete second floor.

I thought Buhrmann Pharr would dwarf them both more than it does.

Pharr, TX

By the book: Buckhead library may be razed

 

By KEVIN DUFFY <

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 02/11/08

 

In early fall, more than 40 architecture students from Mississippi State

University made a five-hour bus pilgrimage to Atlanta to study

buildings.

 

For the past couple of years they've narrowed their focus to just three

places: the High Museum of Art, the William R. Cannon Chapel at Emory

University and the Buckhead branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library

System.

  

John Spink/AJC

 

(ENLARGE)

  

The design of the Atlanta-Fulton County Library's Buckhead branch, which

opened in 1989, has won praise from experts in the field.

  

John Spink/AJC

 

(ENLARGE)

  

The library stands out for its controversial architectural style.

 

The "deconstructivist" library, with its unusual slate shingles and

fragmented shapes, is especially intriguing to the students.

 

"It's a lot more experimental than the other two buildings, so they have

a lot more questions," associate professor Rachel McCann said.

 

Design experts also admire the 18-year-old building on Buckhead Avenue.

It's won four awards, including two from the American Institute of

Architects.

 

"It's one of the most important buildings of the last quarter-century"

in Atlanta, said Robert Craig, an architecture professor at Georgia

Tech. "It's one of the handful in the city known well beyond the city

itself."

 

But the library's unruly character, its attempt to express the

excitement of city life and elicit reactions, might help bring about its

downfall in a changing but still traditional Buckhead.

 

Developer Ben Carter, the builder of the $1.5 billion Streets of

Buckhead project, is offering Fulton County $24 million for the 2-acre

site. He proposes demolishing the building, which sits in the middle of

his eight-block redevelopment, and relocating the library to a future

mixed-use building with condominiums and retail.

 

"The Buckhead area of our city is becoming more urban," Carter said.

"There is a great opportunity with public buildings to incorporate them

into a more urban-style project."

 

Under his plan, the new library would occupy two floors above a parking

garage. Patrons would gain entry via an elevator. An outdoor reading

terrace is possible.

 

His proposal would give the library more space, and his price might

provide the county with a small financial windfall.

 

But almost as important to some powerful people is that the odd building

would go away.

 

"That library, to my way of thinking, was an abortion the day it was

dedicated," Fulton County Commissioner Tom Lowe said. "I am a lover of

art. I can even stand abstract art. But God darn, who in the world would

build something like that? There ain't no damn artistic value to that

library."

 

Charles Loudermilk, the founder of Aaron Rents, agreed. "I see it from

my window. I think it's ugly," Loudermilk said. "I like brick and

limestone, stuff that looks like quality."

 

A portion of the $24 million - perhaps $5 million by Carter's estimate -

would fund the new library space; the rest would be the county's to

spend as it sees fit. The County Commission would have to approve the

sale.

 

"This is an opportunity for the county to receive some money - to

profit," commission Chairman John Eaves told the library system's board

of trustees, of which he is a member. "But it's also an opportunity for

the library to be brand new and relocated to the same immediate area."

 

"I think that it's absolutely worthy of exploring," John Szabo, the

library system director, said. "Once the Streets of Buckhead development

is completed, the library site is not going to be harmonious with the

overall development."

 

Trustees want Carter to suggest a standalone alternative but have not

ruled out the mixed-use location, which would be a first for a library

in Atlanta.

 

The developer said there's no room in his project for a library by

itself, but land in Buckhead could be found elsewhere.

 

Buckhead Avenue has been home to a library since 1942. The current

building, designed by Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam, was dedicated in

December 1989.

 

Back then, the design was just as provocative as it is today. A business

group, the Buckhead Coalition, tried to kill the project. Business

leaders called the look "modernistic battleship."

 

But shortly after its opening, the library began to garner awards.

"Energetic and lively, this branch library amid a nondescript strip of

neon lights, shopping centers and gas stations ... invigorates its

disjointed surroundings," a jury of the American Institute of Architects

wrote in 1993. "The dramatic geometry of the canopied entry creates an

aura of excitement not typically associated with a library and draws the

visitor inside to the quiet spaces."

 

In the 15 years that have followed, Buckhead's commercial heart has

changed dramatically. Towers stand where strip centers used to be. The

single-level library sticks out even more.

 

Reached in India where he's pursuing a new project, Scogin wondered

whose interests are paramount in the library discussion.

 

"To turn it over to private enterprise to decide on its fate I think is

hugely disappointing," said the former chairman of Harvard University's

architecture department. "It's sort of contrary to basic principles of

democracy and how the public is allowed to enjoy the kind of product its

government creates.

 

"The client is no longer the public. The client is private industry.

It's the developer."

 

In the Streets of Buckhead project, Carter wants to build hotels,

residences, office space and 80 upscale shops and restaurants. Land

clearing began last summer.

 

He made his pitch to library trustees in November. Buckhead Avenue, he

said, will become a retail destination and the current library is "kind

of a gap in the experience." The mixed-use library he proposed would be

entered on Pharr Road.

 

An Irish pub and an upscale boutique are slated to be built on two sides

of the library land, and another high-end shop is planned for across the

street.

 

"Right now I'll offer the county $300 a square foot," Carter told the

trustees. "If the library is 25,000 square feet and it costs $200 a

square foot [to build], that's $5 million. So there's $19 million out

there in this transaction to either enhance the library or go back to

the county or go back to the citizens."

 

He went on to say that due to "the rents we're getting from retail,

we're able to pay property owners in Buckhead numbers they've never

dreamed of."

 

Trustee Roger Rupnow asked Carter if it would be possible to move the

library building. Carter said no.

 

"If you want to take that gorgeous thing and move it somewhere, that'd

be great," he joked.

 

In an interview last week, Carter said he will build around the existing

library if he has to. "It's not a have-to thing," he said. He originally

offered $18 million for the land.

 

McCann said architecture that challenges ought to be protected.

 

"We're building way too many buildings to make ourselves comfortable,"

she said. "We don't build enough buildings to make us think harder. This

building does that. It's a brave building and we all ought to be

braver."

 

Razing the Buckhead library would be Scogin and Elam's second sacrifice

to mixed-use development. A conference center they designed at Emory

University, also from the late 1980s, was recently demolished to make

way for a project on Clifton Road.

 

Scogin and Elam "are the most internationally recognized avant-garde

architects we have," Judith Rohrer, chairwoman of Emory's art history

department, said. "Atlanta needs to have works by their most acclaimed

architects. It's really, really a shame that they aren't as appreciated

here as abroad."

 

The prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects is honoring Scogin

and Elam this week with a fellowship.

 

With one building gone and another in jeopardy, does Scogin feel

slighted in his hometown?

 

"We love Atlanta. I grew up there," he said. "I can't let that sour my

attitude on the place."

 

News researcher Richard Hallman contributed to this article.

Nearly finished.

Pharr Mounds is a Middle Woodland period archaeological site located near Tupelo in parts of Itawamba and Prentiss counties in northeastern Mississippi. This complex features earthwork mounds.

 

The complex of eight dome-shaped, tumulus burial mounds was in use during the Miller 1 phase of the Miller culture. These were constructed as earthwork mounds between 1 and 200 C.E. The complex is considered to be one of the largest and most important sites from this era. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as part of the Natchez Trace Parkway at milepost 286.7.

 

Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharr_Mounds

My MOC inspired by the Buhrman Pharr building in Texarkana, AR begins.

Someone asked me for a photo of the backside of the windows and how they

attach.

Masonry sign.

 

Since I can't progress much on the building until my order arrives, I

decided to start work on the crown of the building.

One of the Buhrman Pharr buildings with the LEGO Buhrman Pharr, inspired by

the two bigger buildings.

is now in my artist everyone set... she is an awesome performance artist and photographer!

Pharr Mounds is a Middle Woodland period archaeological site located near Tupelo in parts of Itawamba and Prentiss counties in northeastern Mississippi. This complex features earthwork mounds.

 

The complex of eight dome-shaped, tumulus burial mounds was in use during the Miller 1 phase of the Miller culture. These were constructed as earthwork mounds between 1 and 200 C.E. The complex is considered to be one of the largest and most important sites from this era. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as part of the Natchez Trace Parkway at milepost 286.7.

 

Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharr_Mounds

Welcome to Texarkana!

Buhrman Pharr and the Sava Railways Building

 

Size comparison

Texarkana