- 4407 Marlborough Dr. [HAR]
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Hunkered down behind a tagged security curtain, a bunker-like commercial building in Midtown’s mid-section popped up on the market overnight with a $585K asking price in a “lot-priced” listing. The corner building of uncertain vintage fronting Fannin St. has a history with commercial printers (and insurance companies), and more recently, shoe repair. Adkins Printing struck an exterior inlay on the building’s forehead (above) that’s still visible behind current signage, as is some faint lettering from its days as the offices of Pound Printing and Stationery. More recent signage attached the building’s blank north side (at right) touts available “stationary,” a spelling more appropriate perhaps to Al’s Handmade Boots, the store now occupying half of the building, than to the location’s printing history.
Imprinted
It’s not the largest of the townhomes lining West University’s Northern border, but it might be the tallest — and it’s certainly the whitest. The stucco contemporary’s listing at $485K mid-month points out the home was built in 1983, not the 1973 found on HCAD. A 3-story design amid 2-story neighbors, the front loader comes with a crow’s nest view north and west that takes in Greenway Plaza. H-E-B’s Buffalo Market is across and down the street.
Decked Out
- 6506 Cindy Ln. [HAR]
Don’t be fooled by the apparent symmetry at the entry (top). Once you’re inside the updated 1982 home in Cambridge Green, a mewsy subdivision just west of Kirby Dr. and south of W. Holcombe Blvd., you’ll see that much of the footprint swings to one side. A combo living-dining room further emphasizes the long and low of the lot-filler’s layout. The north-facing front entry looks down the length of a pedestrian-minded greenbelt that spools off the neighborhood street’s loop. A listing that began in July 2014 terminated earlier this month; a relisting by a new agency last week carries a $984,500 price tag.
Mall Walker
- 8211 Katy Fwy. Unit 44 [HAR]
Dog friendly? Maybe. But cats, the listing says, are a deal-breaker for leasing this 2005 patio home in a quad-plex located one street south of the Garden Oaks section between Ella Blvd. and N. Shepherd Dr. Like a quick swipe of lipstick to attract notice, a reddish zipline tops the front porch and extends around the home’s mid-section. Lawn maintenance is included in the home’s $2,850 monthly rate. So are the baby gates, kiddie locks, and a fair amount of wainscot:
Red-Lined
- 7440 Denison St. [HAR]
An expansive deck with pool for physical therapy (top) links a home and its back-of-lot studio apartment at a Montrose compound, which started October as a $795K listing. Recent updates to the 1922 bungalow (above) included new AC, duct work, and wallboard. The studio space was added in 2012. Located east of Stanford St. near Lovett Blvd., the property is within walking — or rolling — distance of many neighborhood restaurants.
Single Level Living
- 1416 Arlington St. [HAR]
How many colors worked their way into this room-sized scene, titled “Yamatane” (mountain seed) and now playing in the Rice Gallery? And from where around town did the surprisingly diverse brown hues originate? Here’s the key:
Mud Mural
- 22615 Crescent Cove Ct. [HAR]
With space for a 10-car fleet in its garage, parking (top) shouldn’t be a problem at this 2008 custom home in Lakeside Island, a niche neighborhood east of Wilcrest Dr. near Terry Hershey Park. The home lies at the end of a suspended walkway parallel to the driveway’s slope (above) on a ravine lot. More stilts and steel shore up the back of the tri-level home, which looks across Buffalo Bayou. The propped-up property’s initial asking price when listed last Friday was $1.249 million, but the price had dropped to $1.229 million by Monday’s weigh-in.
Park City
Not many homes come with their own meat locker (top), but this one has kept its cooler from a previous life as a meat market and corner store. Located in the townhomey Magnolia Grove neighborhood of Brunner, south of Washington Ave. and east of N. Shepherd Dr., the former Laurnicella Meat Market (later Snow’s Corner Store) had living space upstairs for the proprietor. A 3-year renovation with various reconfigurations by the current owners (on top of efforts by their predecessors) converted the 1921 building into a tin-roofed home (middle) with back yardlet (above). Its listing, posted last Thursday, asks $2.1 million.
On the Corner
A renovated and expanded Richmond Place property near the curve of S. Shepherd Dr. pairs its detail-rich cottage (middle) at curbside with a more modern garage-topper behind. Should the 11-year-old back-of-lot building be scored as tony quarters or swish open-plan townhome? Either way, the property is restricted to single-family use, as noted in the $763,250 listing posted last Friday.
Stones and Sticks
