La Colombe d'Or is a hotel and residential complex in Neartown, Houston. It includes an original building in a Beaux-Arts style, a skyscraper with 34 stories, and a bungalow property. [1]
Its original building is a Texas Historic Landmark as of 1989. [2]
Its original building opened in 1923 as the residence of the Fondren family, named Fondren Mansion. Steve Zimmerman purchased the residence and in 1980 he opened the facility as a boutique hotel. [3] Zimmerman wanted a small hotel to match the then down-to-earth character of Montrose, in contrast to larger, more new money designs popular at the time. When the 1980s oil bust happened, Zimmerman ran a discount system called "Oil Barrel Special", getting publicity in the media for that. [4]
Zimmerman also acquired the ballroom of Comtesse Elisabeth Greffulhe, shipped it from France to Texas, and reconstructed it on the property of Colombe d'Or. However, by 2018 he had plans to disassemble it so a skyscraper could be built on the same property. [5]
By March 2021 the original building had been renovated by Rottet Studios. [6] The original building now had a total of 32 hotel rooms available. Zimmerman also added a property so he could have bungalows. [3]
In 2021 Tony Perrottet of Smithsonian Magazine labeled the La Colombe d'Or one of five "invincible hotels" in the United States. [4]
The tower has mostly apartment buildings, but 18 of the rooms are hotel rooms. [7]
Residents of the apartments are zoned to schools in the Houston Independent School District: Ella J. Baker Montessori School (formerly Woodrow Wilson School) for elementary school, [8] Lanier Middle School, [9] and Lamar High School. [10]
The Houston Museum District is an association of 19 museums, galleries, cultural centers and community organizations located in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting art, science, history and culture.
Montrose is an area located in west-central Houston, Texas, United States and is one of the city's major cultural areas. Montrose is a 7.5 square miles (19 km2) area roughly bounded by Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, South Shepherd Drive to the west, and Taft to Fairview to Bagby to Highway 59 to Main to the east. Montrose neighborhoods include Cherryhurst, Courtlandt Place, Hyde Park, Montrose, Vermont Commons, North and East Montrose, Mandell Place and Winlow Place. Montrose is also less well known by the moniker Neartown, encompassing Superneighborhood #24.
Greenway Plaza is a business district located along Interstate 69 within the Interstate 610 loop in southwestern Houston, Texas, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Downtown and 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Uptown. The district is located immediately west of Upper Kirby, north of West University Place, and south of River Oaks.
Bob Lanier Middle School, formerly Sidney Lanier Junior High School/Middle School, is a middle school in Houston, Texas, United States, with a ZIP code of 77098. Lanier, a school of the Houston Independent School District (HISD), handles grades 6 through 8. Named after former mayor of Houston Bob Lanier, the school is located in Neartown and near Montrose and has both neighborhood non-magnet and Vanguard/IBMYP gifted/talented programs. Lanier's neighborhood program serves Montrose, Afton Oaks, Boulevard Oaks, River Oaks, Southampton, and other communities.
Westbury is a neighborhood in the Brays Oaks district of Southwest Houston, Texas, United States. It is located east of Bob White Road, north of U.S. Highway 90 Alternate, and west of South Post Oak Road, adjacent to the Fondren Southwest and Meyerland neighborhoods, just west of the southwest corner of the 610 Loop.
Edgar Allan Poe Elementary School is a primary school located at 5100 Hazard Street in Houston, Texas, United States. A part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD), the school, which was built during the 1920s, is located in the Chevy Chase subdivision of the Boulevard Oaks neighborhood west of Rice University. The school, a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) historic district contributing property of Boulevard Oaks, was named after Edgar Allan Poe.
Edgar Gregory-Abraham Lincoln Education Center (GLEC) is a K-8 school located at 1101 Taft in the Fourth Ward area of Houston, Texas, United States. Gregory-Lincoln is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and has a fine arts magnet program that takes students in both the elementary and middle school levels. Originally built in 1966 as Lincoln Junior and Senior High School, it later operated as Lincoln Junior High School until Gregory Elementary School merged into it in 1980, forming Gregory-Lincoln. The school moved into its current building in 2008; the rebuilding was delayed due to concerns that U.S. Civil War-era graveyards would be disturbed by the rebuilding process.
Montrose is a neighborhood located in west-central Houston, Texas, United States. Montrose is a 7.5-square-mile (19 km2) area roughly bounded by Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, South Shepherd Drive to the west, and Taft to Fairview to Bagby to Highway 59 to Main to the east. The area is also referred to as Neartown or Neartown / Montrose.
The Rice, formerly the Rice Hotel, is an historic building at 909 Texas Avenue in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The current building is the third to occupy the site. It was completed in 1913 on the site of the former Capitol building of the Republic of Texas, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The old Capitol building was operated as a hotel until it was torn down and replaced by a new hotel around 1881. Jesse H. Jones built a new seventeen-story, double-winged hotel in 1913, also called "The Rice Hotel." This building underwent major expansions: adding a third wing in 1925, adding an eighteenth floor in 1951, and adding a five-story "motor lobby" in 1958. In addition, there were several renovations during its life as a hotel. It continued to operate as a hotel before finally shutting down in 1977. After standing vacant for twenty-one years, The Rice was renovated as apartments and reopened in 1998 as the Post Rice Lofts. It was sold in 2014 and renamed simply The Rice.
Four Seasons Hotel Houston is a hotel in Houston, Texas, United States. It is operated by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The hotel includes Four Seasons Place, a group of 64 apartment units, and an Italian restaurant. It is a part of the Houston Center complex.
The Club Quarters Hotel is a 16-story, 61.6 m (202 ft) Beaux-Arts high-rise at 710 Fannin Street in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Texas State Hotel.
The Huntingdon is a 503 ft (153m) tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. The 34-floor structure was completed in 1984 by the developer James E. Lyon. It is the 27th tallest building in the city. It is also the tallest entirely residential building in Houston and was the tallest residential building in Texas until the Mercantile Building was converted into residences. The Mercantile, with baroque gate piers, is twenty feet taller than The Huntingdon.
Brays Oaks, formerly known as Fondren Southwest, is an area in Southwest Houston, Texas, United States. The Brays Oaks Management District, also known as the Harris County Improvement District #5, governs the Brays Oaks area as well as other surrounding areas, such as Westbury. The City of Houston also defines the Brays Oaks Super Neighborhood, with separate boundaries.
2727 Kirby is a 30-story, 78 unit, condominium high rise, designed by Ziegler Cooper and located in Upper Kirby just south of Westheimer in Houston, Texas.
Norhill, Houston is an historic neighborhood in northwest-central Houston, TX (USA). It is adjacent to the more widely known Houston Heights neighborhood as well as Woodland Heights. Norhill is distinguished by its prevalence of bungalows and the green spaces known as esplanades.
The Montrose District was a management district located in Houston, Texas, United States. The land was governed by the Montrose Management District.
Shadyside is a private, walled subdivision of 16 houses in Houston, Texas. In 2012 Terrence McCoy of the Houston Press said that Shadyside has a "sense of exclusivity, or as Heritage Texas Properties puts it, 'mystique,'" which caused many prominent figures from Houston to settle in Shadyside and continue doing so for a period of almost 100 years.
Hyde Park is a historic community located in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, Texas. Its southeast boundary is the intersection Montrose Boulevard and Westheimer. The neighborhood was established in the late 1800s on the summer farm of the second President of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau Lamar. In the 1970s, Hyde Park became a central part of the Gay Rights Movement in Houston. Like much of Montrose, the neighborhood is now experiencing significant gentrification, and is home to an abundance of restaurants, including Mexican, Italian, Greek, American, Lebanese, coffee houses, and numerous bars.
Ella J. Baker Montessori School, formerly Woodrow Wilson Montessori School and Woodrow Wilson Elementary School, is a public K-8 Montessori school in the Cherryhurst Addition subdivision in the Neartown area of Houston, Texas. A part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD), Baker serves as the neighborhood elementary school for a section of Neartown, including a portion of Montrose. It also serves as a magnet school for all of HISD's territory. As of 2014 it is one of three public Montessori programs in Houston. It was the first HISD school to use the Montessori style for all students, as well as housing HISD's first Montessori middle school program. It was formerly named after President of the United States Woodrow Wilson and had its name changed in 2021 due to racist actions taken by the president; it is now named after civil rights activist Ella J. Baker.
Five Corners District is a management district covering sections of southern and Southwest Houston, Texas, United States.
