At the time of the completion of the International Coffee Building in 1910, Commerce and Main Street were bustling with the activities that the street names imply. The International Coffee Building served as a roasting and distribution point for one of the key industries of the era. Since then, rail supplanted shipping and Houston, with the aid of the automobile, moved rapidly out from its historic center at Allen’s Landing. The downtown has shifted its energies away from the water. Buildings now are designed for firms that track materials digitally or sell digital commodities. What was once a vibrant center of city life has been literally overshadowed and left for appropriation by vagrants or artists.
Some years ago the Buffalo Bayou Partnership invited a few architecture firms to submit proposals for the restoration of this small building at the water’s edge in Northern Downtown. In the booming economic climate of yesteryear the proposal for such a small project must have seemed slightly preposterous. Yet to Lake/Flato whose careful brand of Texas Regionalism appealed to the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, this little project was clearly seen in a larger context. Based out of San Antonio, Lake/Flato formed a partnership with the Houston office of BNIM to usher in new life to this historic building.
Historic Photograph of the International Coffee Building
No matter how small, renovating a building that is nearly 100 years old and sited in the floodplain is no minor undertaking. Adding to the difficulty, the city has literally built up around the Coffee Building; currently it is depressed fifteen or so feet from Commerce Street. The design proposes a simple solution of a pedestrian bridge linking the street to the second level of the building. The bridge will continue to run past the building as an overlook to the bayous, at an elevation that will be high enough to safely observe even the worst floods. The second level, accessed from the bridge, is to be the new home office of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership.
The first level of the building being susceptible to flooding prohibits permanent occupation. The solution was almost too obvious---fill it with boats. Here you will be able to rent not only canoes and kayaks to explore the Buffalo and White Oak Bayous but also bicycles to travel along the expanded trail system. Windows at ground level will be slightly enlarged to install overhead doors, opening the building completely to the grounds around it and adjacent plaza.
The plaza is to be a splendid exercise in architectural restraint. Existing concrete, the former foundation of Cleveland and Son’s Grocer Supply, is to be cleared of weeds and grass and left virtually as it is today. Rectangular holes at regular intervals are to be left open as visual cues toward the former columns of the building that once overshadowed its smaller, younger neighbor.
As you move up the building the third level is currently planned to be left open for conference space or possible learning programs. One of the highlights of the renovation will be even further up, on the roof. Here decks give vistas of the bayous while areas of vegetated roof display the environmental concerns of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and the first stages of a rainwater collection system. Many events will be hosted on this deck to the pleasure of intoxicated guests and gracious hosts.
Overall the renovated International Coffee Building is a simple, considered civic project. The historical openings of the building are respected only to the degree that it is convenient, and opened or modified to fit new uses as is appropriate in any renovation. There is a clear nod to the history of the building without presuming that it must remain as it stands. It will be re-clad, reinforced, and enlarged with a structure added atop to accommodate elevator and stair thereby altering the profile. Before any preservation purists scream foul, note that these small changes will bring about a life not seen in this building, or this area of the city, in decades. This is not to be an architectural landmark; it is a part of the fabric of bayou history and intends to be the steward for its future.
Buffalo Bayou Partnership will stage events from this building ranging from the informal boat and bike rentals to the Dragon Boat Festival and Regatta finish line. These activities, by their nature, ask you to participate in the city, not just through boating with children or movies in the historic heart, but by pleading you to think about your presence, where you put your energy, in the city. Through the necessary displacement of parking the suggestion is to consider the nearby rail or, gasp, even the hike and bike trail system.
The tricky thing about this building is that it really isn’t meant to make you want to stay. Architecturally the building conveys a respectable deliberation of its context. It is environmentally responsible, will have a few sustainable bells and whistles such as the green roof and water collection, and some unexpected yet thoughtful additions such as the overlook. It is by no means a destination building, and that is the point. It is a place along a path, a destination if only to reorient you and send you back out into the city. One doesn’t come to discover a place from its origin. From an origin one discovers the paths of growth, change, and the natural or industrial systems that formed the identity of the place.
If we learn anything from history it has shown that interaction with your environment increases stewardship. It is a simple equation that as your surroundings become of value, you have a vested interest in caring for them. In two years, 2011, Houston will celebrate its 175th anniversary. Allen’s Landing, if all goes as planned, will finally be integrated into a burgeoning trail system. The International Coffee Building will be restored. As this and other Buffalo Bayou Partnership projects are completed, all of us will be dared to discover our city a little further.
