Tag: Downtown

Wortham Center Theater
501 Texas Avenue
Houston, Texas 77002

SEVEN WONDERS

The public art at Buffalo Bayou’s Sesquicentennial Park is hard to miss. Seven 70-foot-tall pillars, known as the “Seven Wonders,” flank the park’s Promenade and Preston Avenue Bridge. Each column, designed by Mel Chin, contains 150 drawings, created by 1,050 local schoolchildren. With the help of artists Rachael Splinter and Helen Nagge, Chin translated the drawings into a computer image and then etched them into the pillars’ stainless steel with a laser. The student artists, who were 12 years old when the pillars went up in 1998, were all born in 1986, the year Houston celebrated its 150th birthday. The themes of the tiny works—agriculture, manufacturing, medicine and technology—fit into the context of the city’s history. At night, “Seven Wonders” gives off a lantern-like glow, illuminating the park and buildings around it.

Buffalo Bayou Park
2902 Allen parkway
Houston, Texas 77019

The Gus S. Wortham Memorial Fountain

Affectionately known as the “Dandelion,” the Gus S. Wortham Memorial Fountain’s brass starburst of pipes sprays joggers, cyclists, and dog walkers offering a cool respite from the Houston heat. The setting has been enhanced with a semi-circular grove of trees shading benches, site lighting, and open-air shelters surrounded by lush native perennial gardens. Please note that dogs are not permitted in the fountain. A favorite spot for joggers, dog walkers, and passersby to cool down in the Houston heat, the Wortham Fountain isn’t merely ornamental — it is functional. Water from the fountain is pushed through a starburst of bronze pipes. At the end of each pipe is a nozzle that causes the spray to radiate outward in a circular plane. The effect is of a floating sphere of water. Though it is visually stunning, it is difficult to manage the water. With even a slight breeze, mist drifts outside the confines of the pool, dampening the sidewalk, but also spritzing sweaty joggers who look forward to that part of their run. It was while on a trip to Australia that Houston philanthropist Gus Wortham saw a similar fountain. He decided that Houston needed one, too. According to urban legend, he sought out the designers of the Australian fountain, and found out that it was Houston-based Brown and Root. We have been unable to confirm that. Either way, Houston got one and it has been enjoyed by people for decades.

Buffalo Bayou Park
3600 Memorial Drive
Houston, Texas 77019

Created by internationally renowned Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa, Tolerance comprises a grouping of seven sculptures sited in Buffalo Bayou Park at the intersection of Allen Parkway and Montrose Boulevard. The grouping was installed in 2011 to coincide with the construction of the Rosemont Bridge, which offers pedestrians and bicyclists a place to cross Buffalo Bayou safely. The seven human figures represent the seven continents. Each embodies the need for tolerance, openness, and understanding towards others’ cultures, social structures, values, and faiths, qualities essential among people existing in an interdependent world. The framework of each sculpture consists of alphabetic symbols from nine different languages around the world, reflecting Plensa’s belief that no matter the language we think in, our lives are similar. The seven sculptures rest on seven rough-cut granite pedestals, lit from within.

Buffalo Bayou Park
18-3600 Allen Parkway
Houston, Texas 77002

Created in 1969 and given to the city of Houston in 1979, Large Spindle Piece is a large bronze sculpture by famed master sculpture Henry Moore near Allen Parkway at Buffalo Bayou Park. Inspired by his visit to the Vatican, the twelve-foot sculpture consists of abstract curves, hard points, sharp edges, and negative space. As one of the many respected public art pieces along Allen Parkway, the work sits on a large grassy area across the Federal Reserve Bank and offers viewers a breathtaking view of the Houston skyline.