Collectors and artsy-crafty types will have to head to East Downtown for their muse-feeding materials when Texas Art Asylum, a 18-month-old venture in the First Ward’s art district (top), packs it all up and moves its various shop-classroom-warehouse operations from several sites to one consolidated locale at 1719 Live Oak St. (above and left). The new space, about 6,000 sq. ft., is the former home of pedicab vendor Space City Bike Cabs.
As multiple personalities go, this spread in Spring Branch exhibits 3 faces of eaves. The modified ranch-style home’s straight-laced street facade (top) with porte-cochère and circular driveway gives way to a playful resort-like setting (above), with rocky waterfall, tiki hut, pool, and palm trees — as well as quarters way, way out back on the acre-and-a-half corner lot. A 1985 remodeling raised the roof of the 1962 main home and added a super-sized, Hill-Country-inspired, somewhat-sunken den (above right) with an across-the-back wall of full-height windows facing the well-shaded, placid-meets-partytime yard.
Cupola-capped, this perky 1967 seaside retreat in Seabrook’s El Jardin Del Mar community has expansive views of Upper Galveston Bay from cheery-trimmed windows and a gazebo-enhanced porch. Asking $350,000 since its initial listing 2 months ago, the property’s unwavering price includes all the “like-a-picture book” furnishings, many of which are as mirrored as the walls.
After a good life with its original owners, this well-draped and well-preserved 1961 Mod in Meyerland hit the market earlier this week, asking $625,000. The exterior’s contrast of light brick and dark trim repeats inside, where warm-toned paneling pairs with glass, and mirrors expand the effect. The home’s curved driveway sweeps across the front yard, but the garage is farther down the side street, served by a driveway stub at the back lot line.
If you triple the $54,000 purchase price of this 1978 pop-top property when it sold in April (and add some spare change), you get the initial asking price of its back-after-renovations listing: $164,840. Located on a cul-de-sac in Candlelight Oaks Village, the corner-lot home is also up for lease at $1,500 per month. It features a plethora of windows in a range of styles, proportions, and function. Several skylights, transoms, and tilt-top dormers, meanwhile, offset the bunkered-down brick facade and expansive roof.
The asking price of a property in the Avondale (West) Historic District has been dropping $500 per day since its latest relisting on Thanksgiving Day. A pre-holiday hiatus had capped a 2-year sales effort at several price points by various agents and agencies. The 1910 home and grounds are described as part of the estate of Ross Sterling, a former governor of Texas (1931-32) and founder of Humble Oil, which later became the far humbler ExxonMobil.
If you streamlined a multi-peaked Cotswaldian cottage and stuccoed it, the results might look like this crisp patio home in West Lake Annex, north of Richmond Ave. between Afton Oaks and the railroad tracks. The mid-block property debuted as a listing last week at $675,000. It sits on the back half of a shared-access lot; its stylized, tree-topped balconies (above) face the back of its closer-to-curbside neighbor.
