Deep porches on an updated 1915 Eastwood home listed for lease look toward a residential street lined with similarly neighborly vantage points, all shaded by huge palm trees and live oaks. Behind the home run train tracks — and a tract promised for Lovett Commercial’s Harrisburg Crossing, a mix of retail and office space fronting Harrisburg Blvd. between Oakhurst and Lockwood streets. That juxtaposition also puts the rental home around the block from Metro Rail’s Green Line station at Lockwood.
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The Prairie Style Craftsman property was a 1913 design by architect William T. Little, based on a Sears’ “Sunbeam” plan, according to a materials prepared by the Eastwood Civic Club. HCAD, meanwhile, indicates 2004 renovations to the 1,754-sq.-ft. home and its garage, which was added in 1946. Many of the original features remain, however, such as the hardware, hardwood flooring, and wavy-glass windows in the front rooms. Built-in shelving behind glass doors flanks the sunshiny living room’s fireplace (above), fills a dining room corner (at right), and finishes the kitchen to its ceiling (below).
Both (camera shy) bedrooms are upstairs; each has access to a sitting room looking into nearby treetops:
Tucked into an upstairs corner, 1 of the 2 full bathrooms makes a public appearance. (The other is downstairs.)
French doors at the back of the home connect the full-width den with the deck. There’s also a back yard on the 8,250-sq.-ft. lot.
Heavy growth at the back fence line screens a narrow roadway parallel to the Union Pacific tracks. Schematics for the office-retail center show a 4-story garage could be coming to the home’s back door vista.
- 4441 Rusk St. [HAR]
Hostel site, Can’t say I Lovett.
In other words, it’s leasing for what one of those new 1bed units in Montrose are going for.
Wow…what a nice home, and a gorgeous street based on what I see on Street View. But the other side of the tracks is really “the other side of the tracks.”
Cute house, awful location. Who purposely leases behind a train track? That area is sketchy, who would want to wait for a light rail in that area? Talk about a sitting duck.
I wonder how long those new one bedroom units in Montrose will be leasing for such ridiculous prices.
LOL @ Shannon, your syntax always cracks me up.
$2,300 a month to live in Cancer Alley with high crime rate and terrible community amenities? Makes that $2,300 a month luxury apartment in a desirable area seem like a bargain.
Don’t let the thought of a garage potentially going up some time in the future hold you back from a beautiful home on a great block. Those four-year old concept plans for a project is not going forward at this time. If they decide to resurrect them, it would be at least two years from now. As for it being a sketchy area, I can only imagine that you mean that the area is too diverse for your tastes. If the comment is about crime, you might want to check the actual statistics. The crime in the area has been some of the lowest in town for at least the last 15 years. If you take the three police beats that make up the entire East End, it is half of crime in Montrose, a quarter of that in The Heights, and about an eighth of that in the Galleria area. Most of it are crimes of opportunity our very connected and involved community share info here and with HPD. It’s a great place to live.
@commonsense – So I guess there’s a barrier preventing the cancer molecules from crossing 59 into downtown? Unless you’re referring to poor people as cancer, in which case I’ll say the area’s not for everyone. Some people prefer/require a little more space than a cramped apartment can offer, location notwithstanding.
Sigh. Sometimes I read the comments on this site and wonder if some of you have actually been east of 1-45 in 10 years. Eastwood is not as wealthy nor as white as the Heights or Montrose, but simply being less affluent doesn’t mean it’s dangerous.
You’re much more likely to run into trouble in Midtown or Montrose than you are in Eastwood. http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Greater_Eastwood-Houston/6295/crime/
@Shannon. The immediate area around this house has changed drastically in six years. I should know, I live in the same immediate area. It has cleaned up considerably. Maybe not to your standards but the fact is that it has improved and will only get better. Areas that were once sketchy 20 years ago are now hot spots. You have to start somewhere and this area has a lot of the framework in place to greatly improve in the coming years.
Re: “Cancer Alley.” It’s cute that someone thinks cancer can’t cross west of 288. Sure, only eastsiders are exposed to industrial carcinogens. Repeat it to yourself enough times and it will seem almost truthy!
While living on the tracks would never be my choice, there apparently tons of people who don’t have a problem with it. Note the bounty of homes in River Oaks/Tall Timbers, Royden Oaks, Highland Village, Bellaire, Ayrshire, Woodshire, etc. that back up to the heavily travelled rail line that parallels the West Loop….not to mention hundreds of townhomes in greater Cottage Grove.
Eastwood resident myself. I’m always amused by people’s fear of the East End. Eastwood in particular feels and, by any measure that I’ve seen, is relatively safe. The major drawback is the lack of retail.
what makes the east end great is the people who live there as well as the ones who won’t. Especially the ones who won’t.
Dusty’sDad, I appreciate you are eager to protect the honor of our neighborhood. However, the longer that people like Shannon and commonsense continue to hold onto their ignorance the longer we can enjoy living in our neighborhood without people like them as neighbors.
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Plus, the fact that it is a sleepy, inexpensive little corner of Houston that is so close to so much is part of what drew me in. I can ride my bicycle down Telephone, Polk, Harrisburg, Canal or Navigation, at any time of day without being bullied by the cars I’m sharing the road with. I’d like to hear anyone in Montrose say that about Westheimer, or anyone in West U say that about Bissonnet. You can ride your bike through the heights on heights boulevard, but try to do 11th? ded.
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Anyway, yeah, stay out of the east end, it’s perfect without Shannons and commonsenses.
Dusty, would just note that you’re probably only looking at the quantity of reported incidents and are not controlling for population sizes. Montrose does indeed get a lot of vandalism, but it’s also a much more dense area with a very vibrant after hours scene along its thoroughfares which is reflected in the crime stats. I haven’t been out in the East End after dark since probably 2007 so I’m sure the area is entirely different, but at the time it was a very concerning scene with more cop cars around then any other part of town I frequented.
Re cancer alley: See http://offcite.org/2014/02/24/whats-your-cancer-risk-in-houston-bigger-than-in-dallas. The east side of town has a higher cancer risk than the rest of town. It clusters along the ship channel. No surprise.
@memebag, you beat me to it, I was looking for that map that we’ve all seen that proves that east end IS called Cancer Alley for a good reason. If one has choice where to live, and 99.9% of people do, why would anyone in their right mind want to move there.
commonsense,
By your argument, we should all – and I hope that you especially (for our sake alone) – move somewhere west of Sealy.
Setting aside the fact that this map shows the same cancer risk in Downtown Houston as well as portions immediately north, west, and southwest as exists in your “cancer alley” of the east side, sleep well at night on your bed of imagined superiority to the fact that the cancer risk is “only” 75-150 cases per million a mile west of downtown, verses 150 or more a mile east of downtown. Whatever provides the veil of assumed safety, I suppose.
The data contained on that map is 10 years old now.
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at that time, some of eastwood (CT 3106 and 3104) was in lighter blue (as the rest of the city). with as much industrial which has been removed from the area and replaced by residential as infill, you really think over the last 10 years this map hasn’t changed?
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regardless, 50-75 per million, and 75-150 per million, there’s not much difference in the percentage risk for you to feel smug about.
@Toasty – Great post and thank you for your perspective. This corner of Houston certainly (and thankfully) isn’t for everyone.
I moved to Eastwood from Montrose back in 2003 to go to UHLC and, while I initially planned to sell the home as investment property upon graduation, I fell in love with the neighborhood and haven’t looked back. Although I would like to have a better grocery store (and a Starbucks) the pros outweigh the cons. I have seen my home triple in value over the last 12 years I have lived here. I work downtown and often make the 1.9 mile trip by foot, sometimes at night (gasp!). Monthly wine nights at each other’s homes, Yucca Flats, karaoke at the D&W, pool parties at the ERC – too many great things to mention. But the quality of the residents – and the intimacy of living in such a special place – is the true measure of what makes Eastwood the best place I have ever called home.
As for the “cancer map”, if you actually look at it on a detailed level, Eastwood is effectively split in half. The higher risk area of Eastwood, ironically, is farthest from the ship channel. Regardless, and more to my point, the entirety of Southampton and Boulevard Oaks if considered “high risk”. Why would anyone in their right mind want to move there? Prohibitively expensive, no diversity (boring), and you are STILL going to die of cancer. See! I can post ignorant comments about other neighborhoods, too!
No Memebag, it doesn’t just cluster along the ship channel. It is just as high in Boulevard Oaks, Afton Oaks, and other areas.
Not veil, statistics, facts, data, etc. The map shows that the East end has a lot higher per capita cancer risk than vast majority of Houston, also there are numerous crime data maps that show East side of town is lot less safe than west side of town (this is one of many http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/tx/houston/crime/). Also I had to drive through there a few weeks ago and the whole area is populated bu bums and people just roaming the streets during a work day. Don’t get me started on Combat Kroger.
So, in a nutshell, shitty neighborhood is shitty.
Toasty you’re right…..I can’t think of two people I would rather NOT have as neighbors than commonsense and Shannon. They are made for each other.
commonsense, you probably saw me on your drive!
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I work from home, and during breaks, rather than lighting up a cigarette and smoking for 15 minutes, I take a leisurely stroll around the area. It can easily be misconstrued as ‘just roaming’.
Yeah, I also used to “just roam” around Eastwood. And I had a beard and long hair at the time. My activities could have been misconstrued by those that are prone to misconstruing things. Oh, dear!
Don’t take offense toasty. commonsense has a natural fear of anyone outside who is not in a car unless you are walking from a car through a parking lot. He considers all other pedestrians would-be criminals.
Are we still calling Eastwood “inexpensive”? lol.
It’s a beautiful house. I love the porch, and the floors and all of the light in the living and dining rooms. The kitchen could use a bit more light, but I think the size is just right for someone who actually cooks. You’ve got prep areas right next to the stove and behind you within reach.