I came back from break today to a drippy, dark, sodden campus. Here’s what the quad looked like this morning from the fifth floor of Fondren:
Pretty messy: but not as bad as this:
That’s from a big rain in 1922, looking west towards Harris Gully. The low slung building where the road ends is the shed I talked about in this post from a while back about things that aren’t here anymore.
That 1922 rain was quite a storm. Here are a couple more images of the aftermath, all looking towards the gully:
I have a long history with that road between the dorms.
Bonus: Not an Italian cypress but dead nonetheless.
I think one of those sheds may have still been around in 1974 when it was the Rice Recycling Center. Under the trees out near the old track stadium. We stored glass, newspapers, cans in that old structure; drove them to the various industrial buyers out on south side of town.
I long wondered why Rice didn’t plant native cypresses to suck up the swamp water.
I believe it was because the plan (buildings & grounds alike) was to have an Italian/Dalmation look.
The Oct. 6, 1912, Houston Post had a full-page article about Rice’s architectural plan. Here a link to a segment that I copied (the entire page would be rendered too small to be readable):
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53452912905_fb2f37592a_w.jpg
Another part of the article mentioned that the use of Italian cypress (as well as live oak, magnolias and “a variety of Southern foliage and flowers”) was intended to “give the attraction and charm which the fullest development of the plan indicates.”
I suspect that while the original planners may have known that Houston temperatures may be similar to those of the Mediterranean region, they may not have been aware of the importance of proper drainage for these plants … or that Mediterranean summers are typically dry and that their native plants are adapted to that condition, and often require it.
While the columnar shape of the Italian cypress trees is lovely and supported the architecture of the Quad, I completely agree that they are unsuited to the Houston climate. In the event there is a desire to plant more appropriate foliage with a columnar shape, I believe there are at least two new yaupon holly varieties, Scarlet’s Peak and Skyline, that could be used. (Credit: Neil Sperry) Of course, raising up the planting beds a bit so the roots can breathe during soggy periods would contribute to the success of the plantings.
I can’t click Like. It breaks my heart to see the Quad this way.
It is so odd to see what I call the Hanszen Old Section sitting there all by itself. No large trees, no patio, no parking lot, of course no Wiess College or new section. Just that one building.
That one building (West Hall) was my home for most of my freshman year (”56-’57) before I was moved to Weiss in April at the very beginning of the college System. A few years ago, I wanted to visit my old room on the third floor of the middle section, but I could not even enter the building because of the security system. Things had not changed for the better.