Boom Goes the Dynamite
TNT at the Savoy: building set for emergency demolition
UPDATE: Swamplot has posted that the city is giving the building's owner, named as Michael Nassir, a week to dismantle the structure on his own, before bringing in the city emergency demolition crew at a cost of almost a half-million dollars (recouped through a lien on the property).
The crumbling old grande dame of downtown, the Savoy, is structurally unsound and will be demolished by the city on Friday, September 25, according to HPD Neighborhood Watch Chief M.L. Curan and the Houston Press. The Savoy is actually a set of two buildings: the one getting the wrecker ball is the smaller original, built in 1906, was the first high-rise apartment building in Houston and the first public building to have electricity. The second, more recognizable building (it's the one that actually has Savoy written across the top) was built in 1961.
We hate to see a historic piece of Houston go, but with enough time and neglect a landmark can become just an eyesore, and a dangerous one at that, with bricks falling on passersby.