Swamplot

Today’s sponsor is the 2016 Annual Home Tour from the Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which takes place this weekend. Thanks for sponsoring Swamplot!

Each year, the AIA Houston Home Tour attracts about 3,000 people eager to view the finest in new (5 years old or younger) residences by local architects. This year’s tour takes place from noon to 6 pm this Saturday and Sunday, October 29th and 30th, and features 9 area homes selected by an AIA jury. The 2-day, self-guided tour is open to the public.

The homes on this year’s tour are:

• Pavilion Haus, 1914 Ebony Ln., by studioMET
• Marmo-Vaikhman House, 705 Merrill St., by McIntyre+Robinowitz Architects
• West Eleventh Place Residence, 5 W. 11th Pl., by Dillon Kyle Architects
• The Wroxton, 2332 Wroxton Rd., by MaRS (Mayfield and Ragni Studio)
• Hammer Residence, 2304 Goldsmith St., by m + a architecture studio
• Merrick House, 3614 Merrick St., by studioMET
• Oberlin, 4153 Oberlin St., by Natalye Appel + Associates Architects
• Winslow House | Perched, 517 Winslow Ln., by JT ARC STUDIO
• Soothing Santa Barbara, 4810 Braesvalley Dr., by MASA Studio Architects

Tickets for the tour are $25 each — or $20 for bike riders — and can be purchased in advance online or at the AIA Houston office (Downtown, at 315 Capitol St. Suite 120). They let you into all 9 houses, on both days of the tour. You can also purchase tickets at any of the participating houses during tour hours. Single-house tickets are also available, for $10 each, but only during tour hours at the homes themselves.

For more information, check out the tour website, where you’ll also find more photos of each of the featured homes. This press release provides a lot more detail about each property. There’s a map to the homes here. To purchase tickets online, click here.

Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day posts reach the people you want to reach — and they’re easy to set up. Just ping us here.

Swamplot’s sponsor today is the Houston Heights Beverage Coalition, a political action committee supporting the passage of the November 8th ballot proposition to legalize the sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption in the Heights.

Swamplot is nonpartisan and does not endorse political candidates or campaigns. But we do run political advertising and Sponsor of the Day content.

The photo above shows just a few supporters of Proposition 1 (from left to right): Council Member Jack Christie, Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Cohen, Houston Heights Beverage Coalition Chair Steve Reilley, Council Member David Robinson, and Houston H-E-B President Scott McLelland. More supporters appear in an expanded version of the photo, which you can find at the top of the main page of the the Houston Heights Beverage Coalition website.

On that website you’ll also find links to recent news reports about the Heights Beer-Wine Proposition; a map showing the boundaries of the Heights’ “dry zone”; and an FAQ that summarizes the history of the Heights’ alcohol restrictions and explains who’s behind the effort to get them changed.

The Houston Heights Beverage Coalition encourages Heights residents to vote “For” the Heights Beer-Wine Proposition. Election day is November 8th; early voting begins today.

And here’s a special notice for straight-ticket voters: If you vote Straight Party Ticket, you will not have voted on the Heights Beer-Wine Proposition (or any other propositions that appear on your ballot). So be sure to finish the ballot by finding the Heights Beer-Wine Proposition and voting on it separately.

If you’ve got an important message for Swamplot readers, you’ll want to become a Swamplot sponsor. Here’s how.

Today’s sponsor is Houston’s own Central Bank. Swamplot appreciates the continued support!

Central Bank has 4 (central) Houston branches available to meet your business or personal needs: in Midtown, the Heights, West Houston, and Post Oak Place.

Central Bank believes that change is essential to its success; the company actively pursues the latest in service, technology, and products. Central Bank aims to know its customers personally and to be their primary business and personal financial resource. The bank’s staff values relationships and strives to be available when you need them.

To learn more about how Central Bank can meet your banking needs, please call any of the following Senior Vice Presidents: Kenny Beard, at 832.485.2376; Bonnie Purvis, at 832.485.2354; Gary Noble, at 832.485.2366; or Ryan Tillman, at 832.485.2307. You can also find out more on the bank’s website.

Is reaching local customers central to your business? Then you might want to learn more about becoming a Swamplot Sponsor of the Day. 

Swamplot today is sponsored by Keep the Heights Dry, a political action committee that opposes City of Houston Proposition No. 1.

If you live in or near the Houston Heights, you’ve probably heard about City of Houston Proposition No. 1 on the ballot this November (or already, for early voters). If it passes, Proposition 1 would allow the legal sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption only in an area where it’s currently not allowed — the “dry Heights.” Proposition 1 will only appear on the ballots of voters who live within the former boundaries of the City of Houston Heights.

Keep the Heights Dry — or Keep the Heights Weird and Dry, as the campaign alternately refers to itself — encourages voters to vote against Proposition 1. The group’s biggest concern about the prospect of allowing the sale of beer and wine for off-premises consumption — spelled out in more detail on its website — is that it “would make it easier for large regional or national operators to come in and apply a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model that is currently anomalous in the Heights dry area.” Keep the Heights Dry claims that defeating the ballot measure will help the Heights keep its character intact.

The group notes on its website that it believes that changing a 104-year-old law so that one commercial project (a proposed H-E-B) can enter the market “is short-sighted and will have very logical consequences that will irreversibly change the character and commercial development of The Heights.” Real estate broker and local business owner Bill Baldwin, one of the organization’s backers, says “It’s not just about an H-E-B next year, it’s about a Costco that then shows up at 24th St. and Ashland or a Sam’s Club at 4th & Yale. . . . Of course we’d love an H-E-B — they’re great community partners — but there’s just no way it would end there.”

If you’d like to learn more about Proposition 1 or read more of Keep Heights Dry’s arguments opposing it, visit the Keep the Heights Dry website, where you’ll find a map that shows the boundaries of the dry Heights, some detail on the history of the area, and a thought-provoking FAQ. Whatever you decide, do make sure to vote on (or before) November 8th.

Here’s our proposition: Become a Swamplot Sponsor of the Day, and reach the readers you want to reach.

Today on Swamplot our sponsor is the 2-story home at 844 E. 25th St. in Sunset Heights. Thank you for supporting this site!

In this recently completed home by Design 3, all 3 bedrooms are downstairs. That leaves the open living space you see above in command of the second floor. The main living area opens up to the front porch (visible through the open French doors in the top photo). The front door is the single-light door at the right of the top photo; it’s at the top of a set of stairs rising from street level at the front of the home. Beyond the open island kitchen (above, with marble countertops) is a study-flex space that could serve as a fourth bedroom. It opens to a balcony overlooking the back yard.

Upstairs the floors are pine; downstairs they are mostly stained concrete. The first-floor master bedroom opens directly to a deck jutting into the back yard.

If you’d like more info about this home or want to see additional pix of it, check out the property website. There’s also an open house this Sunday, October 23rd, from noon to 2 pm.

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Today on Swamplot our sponsor is Jamestown Estate Homes. Thanks for the support!

Jamestown Estate Homes is a luxury custom homebuilder that’s been serving Houston since 2010. Founder Greg Hawes’s first building in Bunker Hill Village was the treehouse he built in his backyard as a child in 1957. After graduating from UT, he worked at US Home (then the largest homebuilder in the nation), where he was soon offered a corporate position. Instead, he left to found Partners in Building, where he served as president for 18 years. When he sold his interest in Partners, it was ranked as one of Houston’s 10 largest homebuilders by the Houston Business Journal.

In 2010 Greg started Jamestown Estate Homes to get into what he calls “true custom homebuilding” — focusing on every detail and getting back to working one-on-one with buyers. His love for homebuilding is shared by his 3 daughters, and Jamestown has allowed him to fulfill his dream of working with his kids. (Elizabeth, the oldest, worked for Jamestown until her husband was transferred to the Hague. The “commute is just too far,” she explained when she resigned.)

Named valedictorian at Klein High School in 1999, Katy Hawes earned a degree in molecular biology from UT and an MBA with a concentration in accounting from Rice. This makes her a great fit for the role of controller at Jamestown. Katy’s construction budgets take into account every element, no matter how tiny — and have often come within $10 of actual construction expenditures.

After a brief stint in Los Angeles pursuing film (she worked as Britney Spears’s body-double in 2 music videos), youngest daughter Victoria Hawes graduated first in her class from UH with a degree in corporate communications before getting a master’s in communication from Purdue. She joined Jamestown Estate Homes as a superintendent and was named Houston’s Best Custom Home Superintendent for 2013 by the Greater Houston Builders Association (GHBA) and Project Manager of the Year in 2014 by the Texas Association of Home Builders. A skiing accident in 2014 helped her transition from construction to sales, marketing, and design.

Jamestown Estate Homes was named Custom Builder of the Year by the GHBA in 2013. The company has active projects in the Memorial Villages, Oak Forest, and the Heights, and is looking to expand into Meyerland, Bellaire, and Tanglewood. (Jamestown Estate Homes will also build on a client’s land in surrounding areas.) The company completes 6 to 12 homes a year, with projects starting around $500,000 (for the house only).

For more information, contact Victoria Hawes (832) 296-1663 or victoria.hawes@jamestownestatehomes.com, or check out the company’s website. To find details about the home pictured above, click here.

Got a custom message for Swamplot readers? Check out our Sponsor of the Day program.

Our thanks go to Mosaic Clinic Dermatology for being our Sponsor of the Day today. Swamplot appreciates the support!

The roughest part of heavy-sweating season may be officially over for most of us in Houston, but if you’re still exhibiting the signs — and smells — of excessive perspiration, you may want to know about MiraDry. MiraDry is a lasting, FDA-approved treatment for armpit sweat and odor that’s so effective it allows you to go without deodorant. The treatment, which takes about an hour, destroys sweat and odor glands in your underarms. Because your body doesn’t produce new sweat glands, the results are permanent.

MiraDry is just one of the treatments offered at Mosaic Clinic Dermatology, a general dermatology practice with 3 Houston locations: in the Heights at 2401 Yale St. Suite 1; in the Tanglewood area at 5757 Woodway Dr. Suite 185a; and in Midtown at 902 Fairview St. Suite 1 (pictured above).

Same-day and Saturday appointments are available for a range of dermatological conditions including rashes, miles, skin cancer, and acne. To find out more about MiraDry or other available treatments, check out the Mosaic Clinic Dermatology website — or call (281) 941-5556 for immediate assistance.

Need help getting Swamplot readers to notice what your business has to offer? Don’t sweat it — just sign up to become a Sponsor of the Day!

Today on Swamplot our sponsor is Houston’s own Central Bank. Swamplot appreciates the continued support!

Central Bank has 4 (central) Houston branches available to meet your business or personal needs: in Midtown, the Heights, West Houston, and Post Oak Place.

Central Bank believes that change is essential to its success; the company actively pursues the latest in service, technology, and products. Central Bank aims to know its customers personally and to be their primary business and personal financial resource. The bank’s staff values relationships and strives to be available when you need them.

To learn more about how Central Bank can meet your banking needs, please call any of the following Senior Vice Presidents: Kenny Beard, at 832.485.2376; Bonnie Purvis, at 832.485.2354; Gary Noble, at 832.485.2366; or Ryan Tillman, at 832.485.2307. You can also find out more on the bank’s website.

Do Swamplot readers know what’s great about your local business? They will when it’s Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day. 

Today on Swamplot our sponsor is personal coach Cricket Buchler. Thanks for supporting Swamplot, Cricket!

If you’re looking to make some changes in your life, or just searching for a creative spark for a jump-start, consider a 90-minute personal coaching session with coach Cricket Buchler. An experienced corporate trainer who has helped top executives, Hollywood celebrities, and employees in a range of industries address personal and professional development issues, Cricket also works one-on-one, guiding clients to explore and unlock possibilities and design plans to realize change, and coaching them through their journey toward an intentional life.

A coaching session can also be an inspiring gift for anyone who is looking to take the next step forward in life, work, or relationships, but feels a bit stuck as to what next steps might look like. You’ll find a sampling of testimonials from Cricket’s clients on her website, along with more information about coaching sessions.

Go, team, go! Become a Swamplot Sponsor of the Day.

Today’s sponsor is the recently renovated 4-bedroom, 3-bath home at 1839 Viking Dr. in Oak Forest — with an asking price that was reduced just yesterday. Thanks for supporting Swamplot!

This original Oak Forest home was taken down to the studs in 2012 by a builder who transformed it into his personal home. In the process, he replaced all the electrical and plumbing systems and added a master bedroom suite. (The new master bath is pictured above.) Vaulted-ceiling living, dining, and kitchen spaces — shown in the topmost photo — now flow into each other at the front of the home. French doors lead to a covered outdoor patio space equipped with a television. New materials and finishes introduced throughout include limestone and granite countertops in the kitchen, marble counters in the bathrooms, and wood, slate, and tile floors.

The home sits 2 blocks north of W. 43rd St., about midway between Candlelight Park and the hike-and-bike trails lining T.C. Jester. Relaxation and exercise is also available at home, in the backyard pool.

If you’d like to see more of this place, check out the property website. 1839 Viking St. is listed for sale by New Leaf Real Estate, which offers unique savings programs for both sellers and buyers.

Are you ready for Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day program? Get more information about it here.

Swamplot is brought to you today by the 5-bedroom, 5-bath house for sale or lease at 6337 Mercer St. in West University Place. Thanks for the support!

If you have a big family — or maybe anticipate a lot of visitors — you’ll find plenty of room in this 4,922 sq.-ft. home. Just inside the front door, a curving staircase leads up to all 5 bedrooms: three of the same size, the fourth slightly larger, and the master more than twice the size of any of the others. A jack-and-jill bathroom separates 2 of the bedrooms; there are 3 other bathrooms upstairs, including the master. The fifth, which includes a shower, is located downstairs.

The heart of the home, however, is the kitchen-and-family-room setup at the back, downstairs, which is arranged nicely for entertaining. (It’s pictured above, minus a second row of French doors, just off camera to the right.) The French doors in the family room lead to a patio and back yard that has room for a pool. Behind the kitchen is the formal dining room. Off the 2-story foyer is the formal living room (now used as a den), which leads, through a set of arched double pocket doors, to a private paneled study.

All this within walking distance of both the Rice Village and West U Elementary. You’ll find more details about 6337 Mercer St. on the property websites — one for potential buyers and the other for potential renters.

Got a cool listing that deserves attention? Show it off by becoming a Swamplot sponsor.

Our thanks go to Jamestown Estate Homes, offering the new home at 11926 Broken Bough Dr. in the Memorial Shadows neighborhood of Bunker Hill Village — today’s Swamplot Sponsor of the Day!

Jamestown Estate Homes is a family business founded by Greg Hawes in 2010. After serving as president of Partners in Building for 18 years, Greg founded Jamestown Estate Homes with his daughters Katy and Victoria. (Other members of the Jamestown team are Lindsey Bechtold and construction manager Mike Prejeant, who as a civil engineering graduate got his start in the business by doing New Orleans restorations, then worked for a volume builder for many years.)

This recently completed 6,657-sq.-ft. home sits on a 20,155-sq.-ft. lot walking distance from Bunker Hill Elementary. The Todd Rice–designed property has 5 bedrooms (2 on the first floor), 5 full- and 2 half-baths, and separate attached 1- and 2-car garages. The home is elevator-ready, and plans are available for an optional 38-ft.-by-14-ft. pool in the back yard.

The Jamestown team has found that many families like the idea of having 2 living areas on the first floor. And so there are 2 in this home: a great room and a separate space that could serve as a game or billiards room, a formal living room, gym, music room, or whatever your family may need. This flexible space has access to an outdoor living area with summer kitchen and fireplace — and the back yard.

The master suite includes a master bathroom with separate walk-in closets and separate his-and-her water closets (so you don’t even have to share a toilet!). There’s even a secret pathway from one master closet to the study. Upstairs are 3 ensuite bedrooms, plus a game room with bar that opens to the media room through custom barn-style doors made from reclaimed wood by the Heights-area craftsmen at ReCoop Designs.

To learn more about the home’s energy features, or to make a private appointment to see it, contact Victoria Hawes at (832) 296-1663 or victoria.hawes@jamestownestatehomes.com. You can see more photographs of the property by checking out the listing. A PDF containing complete floor plans is available here. The home is also open Sundays from 2 to 4 pm.

Here’s a great way to showcase fine properties: Sign up to become a Swamplot Sponsor of the Day!

Today’s sponsor: Houston’s own Central Bank. Swamplot appreciates the continued support!

Central Bank has 4 (central) Houston branches available to meet your business or personal needs: in Midtown, the Heights, West Houston, and Post Oak Place.

Central Bank believes that change is essential to its success; the company actively pursues the latest in service, technology, and products. Central Bank aims to know its customers personally and to be their primary business and personal financial resource. The bank’s staff values relationships and strives to be available when you need them.

To learn more about how Central Bank can meet your banking needs, please call any of the following Senior Vice Presidents: Kenny Beard, at 832.485.2376; Bonnie Purvis, at 832.485.2354; Gary Noble, at 832.485.2366; or Ryan Tillman, at 832.485.2307. You can also find out more on the bank’s website.

Put your business front and center for Swamplot readers. Become a Swamplot Sponsor of the Day. 

Our sponsor today is the 2-story home at 2366 Dunstan Rd. in the Southampton Place Extension — one of a pair of adjacent homes designed by architect and Rice prof Will Cannady. Thanks for supporting Swamplot!

Forty years ago, when William T. Cannady had been teaching architecture at nearby Rice University for a mere 12 years (he’s still at it today), he created this modern home and its mirrored-plan neighbor one lot away from the eastern edge of the Rice Village. The entry, past a crepe-myrtle-lined walkway that stretches between the 2 homes, opens next to the living room, which looks out to a private brick-paved patio terrace in back (pictured above). Large, high windows at the stairwell and several other strategic spots throughout the structure bring light into the home — and offer views of the surrounding greenery.

All 3 bedrooms are upstairs. A balcony from one of the bedrooms peeks out over the back patio. A renovation added hardwood floors to the main living space, Miele appliances to the galley kitchen, and fixtures from Waterworks and new cabinets to the bathrooms. There’s also a working elevator.

Inventive ice cream shop Cloud 10 Creamery is dangerously close (just around the corner on Morningside); it’s an extra block-and-a-half or so to 24 Hour Fitness. You can get to the Med Center with a 25-minute walk along the oak-lined edges of Rice University.

You’ll want to see more pics of this place; they’re available on the property website. 2366 Dunstan Rd. is listed for sale by New Leaf Real Estate, which offers unique savings programs for both sellers and buyers.

Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day program brings attention to interesting properties. If you’ve got one that should show up here, let us know about it.

Today on Swamplot our sponsor is the 4-bedroom home at 2014 W. 14th 1/2 St. in Clark Pines, in the Greater Heights area.

Porches front the first and second story of this custom home, which was built in 2008; a more private porch in back has access from the living room. A built-in wine bar with a brick backsplash is tucked next to the central stair landing. At the front of the home, a pair of French doors opens to a study with a wall of built-ins that allows access to a secret room. There’s a formal dining room as well as a slightly more casual eating alcove off the living room and closer to the kitchen at the back of the home. The first-floor master suite features a coffee bar and a master bath with standalone shower and claw-foot tub.

Upstairs, a flex room (could be a second living room, media room, or game room) off the landing connects to the second-story porch. One of the 3 bedrooms on this floor, which has its own bathroom (also accessible from the flex room), also fronts the porch. The other 2 second-story bedrooms share a Jack-and-Jill bath with 2 sinks and a separate bath-and-toilet compartment. All bedrooms have separately zoned thermostats; all the upstairs windows (and most of the downstairs ones) feature plantation shutters. In all, the home measures 3,788 sq. ft.

Clark Pines is a small neighborhood in the Greater Heights area west of the Houston Heights proper and south of Shady Acres. This home sits on a 7,700-sq.-ft. lot on the south side of 14th 1/2 St., which ends in a cul-de-sac a few doors down. The wide street frontage allows the home and its attached 2-car garage to face 14th 1/2. (Further subdivision of the lots in the neighborhood is restricted, according to the listing agent, by a minimum lot-size requirement.)

If you’d like to learn more details about the home at 2014 W. 14th 1/2 St., or see more photos of the interior (some with digital staging!), check out the property website.

Swamplot’s Sponsor of the Day posts let unique properties shine. If you think this program might work for your listing or business, find out more about it here.