Downtown Foley's

Back in the day, cities, large & small, had their locally-owned department store. Some stores have managed to stay in business, others have either closed their doors or been bought out by large national chains. Ask anyone of a Certain Age about their local store & you'll hear lots of stories & fond memories.

Foley's was one of Houston's department stores. I moved to Houston too late to see Foley's in its prime; by the time I was here, it was Foley's in name only, bought by Macy's. Eventually it lost even its name.

The downtown flagship store was built in 1947. It was a simple, graphic structure that seemed to anticipate the modernity of the last half of the 20th Century. I never really noticed it or gave it much thought -- that is, until it no longer existed -- it was imploded in September of 2013. Then, thanks to the images on the internet, I kind of fell in love with it. The north-facing facade seem to beg to become a quilt. My quilt is not an exact replica of the old building, but an homage to downtown Foley's & all the other department stores that are now gone.