The Houston Main Building [1] (HMB) [2] formerly the Prudential Building, was a skyscraper in the Texas Medical Center, Houston, Texas. It originally housed offices of the Prudential Insurance Company, before becoming a part of the MD Anderson Cancer Center. The building was demolished on January 8, 2012. [3] It was designed by Kenneth Franzheim. [4]
The building was built in 1952. Originally it housed the offices of the Prudential Insurance Company. [5] The building was the first corporate high rise building established outside of Downtown Houston. [6] 18 story, 500,000-square-foot (46,000 m2) building was designed by Kenneth Franzheim. It was among a group of regional headquarters buildings built for Prudential in the late 1940s and early 1950s. During its history the building had landscaped grounds, a swimming pool, and tennis courts. [7] The building was made of limestone and steel. [8] The offices in the building served the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. [9]
The MD Anderson Cancer Center bought the building in 1974. [6] MD Anderson paid $18.5 million for the Prudential Building, which is located on a 22.5-acre (9.1 ha) site. [7]
In 2002 MD Anderson announced that it planned to demolish the building and replace it with a four-story medical campus. Area preservationists opposed the plan. William Daigneau, the vice president of operations and facilities, said that renovating the buildings would be too costly. [7] In 2008 Daigneau said that the building was slowly disintegrating. MD Anderson planned to have the building demolished around 2010. [5] Local and state preservationists protested the proposed demolition. David Bush of the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance said that the building would be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Bush also said that the organization had been told unofficially that demolishing the structure would damage equipment in adjoining structures, so he said the organization believed that the building would not be demolished. [6] A 2007 BusinessWeek article said that demolishing the Houston Main Building would cost $6 million. [8] Daigneau said that a pair of clinic buildings would replace the Houston Main Building. [6]
Stephen Fox, an architectural historian from Rice University, said that the building was "finely built, finely finished office building that, because of its beautiful materials, generous public spaces and carefully integrated installation of art works, feels more like a public building than an office building." He also described the Houston Main Building as "a model of urbane construction in a suburban setting." [6]
The M. D. Anderson Alumni and Faculty Association was located in the tower. [10] Departments of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston housed in the Houston Main Building included several academic support departments and the University of Texas School of Nursing at Houston. [11] [12]
The nursing school moved into the School of Nursing and Student Community Center building. [12] The Faculty Center tower, which opened in Spring 2008, now houses several academic support departments of the University of Texas Health Science Center. [11]
The Houston Main Building (HMB) Exercise Room was located in HMB.B240 in the basement. [2] A lighted .25-mile (0.40 km) jogging track was located on the west side of the building. [13]
A fresco, titled "The Future Belongs To Those Who Prepare For It," was located in the Prudential Building. [5] The fresco, 16 feet (4.9 m) by 47 feet (14 m), depicts life on a farm in West Texas. [6] The Prudential Life Insurance Company commissioned the mural from the artist Peter Hurd. The company wanted to evoke its motto, which was used as the painting's title. [14] To create the mural, Hurd used construction workers as his models. Hurd himself appears as a soil conservation agent in the work. [6]
Ann Hale, the director of the Hurd La Rinconada Gallery in San Patricio, unincorporated Lincoln County, New Mexico, estimated the value of the painting at over $3 million. Hale said that the museum had been working with several private individuals and universities to try to get the mural moved, but she said that there were "no real solid prospects." Hale said that there were people wanted the mural, but they would have to take the responsibility for moving it. The vice president of MD Anderson, Bill Daigneau, said in 2008 the structural problems in the building are cracking the mural. Daigneau also said that the fresco "does not reflect the values of M.D. Anderson. ... There's the issue of who's running the farm, and who's working on it." The fresco portrays African-Americans carrying hay. According to Daigneau, polled MD Anderson employees and faculty opposed installing the mural in a new area. [6]
By 2008 no deal to remove the fresco from the building had been finalized due to the cost of removing the mural. [5] M.D. Anderson stated that it would give away the mural, located in the building's lobby, for no charge. Allan Turner of the Houston Chronicle said that removing the mural, restoring it, and installing it in a new location would cost over $500,000. Peter Marzio, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, said that the museum was approached about possibly accepting the mural. Marzio said that the museum rejected the fresco because it was too "site specific." [6] In 2010 a benefactor from Artesia, New Mexico agreed to have the mural removed. The mural will become a part of the public library of Artesia. [15]
The University of Texas System is an American government entity of the state of Texas that includes 13 higher educational institutions throughout the state including eight universities and five independent health institutions. The UT System is headquartered in Downtown Austin, and has a total enrollment of nearly 240,000 students and employs 21,000 faculty and more than 83,000 health care professionals, researchers and support staff. The UT System's $30 billion endowment is the largest of any public university system in the United States. As of 2018, Reuters ranks the UT System among the top 10 most innovative academic institutions in the world.
The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a 2.1-square-mile (5.4 km2) medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrated in a triangular area between Brays Bayou, Rice University, and Hermann Park, are members of the Texas Medical Center Corporation—a non-profit umbrella organization—which constitutes the largest medical complex in the world. The TMC has an extremely high density of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research.
Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private, independent health sciences university in Houston, Texas within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; the School of Health Professions, and the National School of Tropical Medicine.
Peter Hurd was an American painter whose work is strongly associated with the people and landscapes of San Patricio, New Mexico, where he lived from the 1930s. He is equally acclaimed for his portraits and his western landscapes.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is a comprehensive cancer center in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the U.S. and one of the original three comprehensive cancer centers in the country. It is both a degree-granting academic institution and a cancer treatment and research center located at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. It is affiliated with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) is a public academic health science center in Houston, Texas. It was created in 1972 by The University of Texas System Board of Regents. It is located in the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world. It is composed of six schools: McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UTHealth School of Dentistry, Cizik School of Nursing, UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics and UTHealth School of Public Health.
The Institute of Biosciences and Technology (IBT), a component of the Texas A&M Health Science Center represents the Texas A&M University System, one of the two main Texas state university systems, in the state's and world's largest medical center, the Texas Medical Center, in Houston, Texas. The institute provides a bridge between Texas A&M University System scientists and other institutions' researchers working in the Texas Medical Center and the biomedical and biotechnology research community in Houston. It emphasizes collaboration between member scientists and others working in all the fields of the biosciences and biotechnology. IBT encourages its scientists to transfer discoveries made in their laboratories to the clinic and marketplace.
The architecture of Houston includes a wide variety of award-winning and historic examples located in various areas of the city of Houston, Texas. From early in its history to current times, the city inspired innovative and challenging building design and construction, as it quickly grew into an internationally recognized commercial and industrial hub of Texas and the United States.
John Fanz Staub was a residential architect who designed numerous traditionally-styled homes and mansions, mostly in Houston, Texas, from the 1920s to 1960s.
Banner Health is a non-profit health system in the United States, based in Phoenix, Arizona. It operates 30 hospitals and several specialized facilities across 6 states. The health system is the largest employer in Arizona and one of the largest in the United States with over 50,000 employees.
Wheeler Williams was an American sculptor, born in Chicago, Illinois.
The Sam Houston Hall was a building in Houston, Texas. It was located at 801 Bagby Street in the Fourth Ward, though now considered a part of downtown. It was designed as a temporary structure for the 1928 Democratic National Convention. It served as the venue for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from 1932 to 1936, after which it was demolished.
Monroe Dunaway Anderson (1873–1939) was a banker and cotton trader from Jackson, Tennessee. With William L. Clayton, Anderson built Anderson, Clayton and Company into the world's biggest cotton company. In the event of one of their deaths, the partnership would lose a large amount of money to estate taxes and might be forced to dissolve. In order to avoid this, Anderson created the M.D. Anderson Foundation with an initial sum of $300,000. In 1939, after Anderson's death the foundation received an additional $19 million.
919 Milam is a building in Downtown Houston, Texas completed in 1956. The building has been previously named 909 Travis, Bank One Center, and the Bank of the Southwest Building. The building occupies the entire block bounded by Milam, McKinney, Travis, and Walker streets. Ownership of the building has changed hands several times over the last twenty years.
The Jane and Robert Cizik School of Nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston (UTHealth) is an American nursing education institution.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (UT-GSBS), formerly The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, is a joint venture of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. It offers Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in many areas of study, and a M.D./Ph.D. program in collaboration with The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and it is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools through both its parent institutions, UTHealth and MD Anderson. It is located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center.
Anderson, Clayton and Company was a cotton trading firm started in Oklahoma City by Frank Anderson, Monroe Anderson and William Clayton. These three men formed a partnership on August 1, 1904. The company moved to Houston early in the 20th Century because that city was gaining on Galveston for the title of Cotton Capital of the U.S. after the near-complete destruction of that port by the 1900 Galveston hurricane, and on account of Houston's rapidly expanding shipping facilities. In time the company became the world's largest cotton-trading company.
Kenneth Franzheim was an architect in Chicago and Boston in the early 1920s with C. Howard Crane. He started an independent practice in New York in 1925 and specialized in the design of large commercial buildings and airports.
Ernst William Bertner was an American physician and healthcare administrator. He was the first president of the Texas Medical Center and served as acting director of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Sonja Eva Singletary was an American surgeon who specialized in the care of breast cancer. She was a faculty member at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and a past president of the Society of Surgical Oncology.
