1966: “Bonanza” was in color[1], the shift dress was coming into vogue[2], the Beatles were singing improbably about being paperback writers[3], and international outer space law was well on its way to becoming reality[1].
The Library was considering an addition.
The front would remain conventional enough . . .
. . . but the back would be all “Jetsons”:
This included a two-story underground parking area, which I suspect the Library was glad it had not built ten years later when the flooding hit[5].
The addition was actually wedge- shaped:
The open pation on the fourth story between the “base” and the tower was meant to include a small green space:
The proposal even made the cover of that year’s MEDLARS[6] booklet but, alas, was never built.
The Library did build an addition in 1974 but it didn’t have quite the same Midcentury panache as this one would have.
All of the images used in this post are from Institutional Collection #2, the Texas Medical Center, Box 40, folders 3 (proposal booklet) and 4 (MEDLARS).
[1] TV.com
[2] Vintage Fashion Guild.
[3] Billboard
[4] United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (yes, that’s a real thing).
[5] KHOU 11 forum.
[6] National Library of Medicine